$65 million! Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust moves to BATS exchange

According to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) document filed today by the Winklevoss twins, their Bitcoin Trust has abandoned its listing on the Nasdaq.

After filing and waiting three years, the trust's founders, investors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, have changed their minds and are seeking to list their product on the BATS Global Exchange.

Notably, the Winklevoss twins also increased the size of their stock offering from $20 million to $65 million, a move that will raise the maximum share price offered to retail investors.

If the SEC approves the request, the trust will become the first Bitcoin investment vehicle approved by federal regulators. At the same time, the Winklevoss brothers look forward to moving forward. It is reported that the trust is not the only digital currency investment of the Winklevoss brothers in the market.

Last month, their Gemini digital currency exchange announced the launch of Ethereum trading and the expansion of its service scope to the UK and Canada.

Currently, Gemini lags far behind its competitors Coinbase and itBit in market share in the BTC/USD trading field, and this move undoubtedly shows that the exchange is working hard to gain market share.

It is reported that the sponsor of the Bitcoin Trust is Digital Asset Services Ltd., a limited liability company established in 2013 in Delaware and wholly owned by Winklevoss Capital Management LLC.

Community Comments

After the announcement, the /r/Bitcoin/ community quickly started a heated discussion. Here are some comments from members:

rybeor: When will it be approved? Will it have any impact on GBTC?

jratcliff63367 replied: The premium will evaporate in an instant, and if there is a chance, the actual price of GBTC will be lower than the corresponding Bitcoin price, if people think that the COIN ETF is a superior tool (most likely it will track the real-time price of Bitcoin and provide more liquidity).

When I know what is going to happen with this ETF I will sell all of my GBTC.

xcsler replied: With all due respect, if the price of the underlying Bitcoin continues to soar, the price of GBTC may still rise. In addition, as mentioned earlier, who knows how long it will take for this ETF to be approved. It has been applied for many years and it may still take a long time so far. Compared with all other assets, it still makes sense to put money into GBTC.

jmaller: What does this $65 million number represent?

bitcreation responded: The number of bitcoins they own multiplied by the market price.

jmaller: I see, does that mean that over time they can add more and issue more shares?

chuckymcgee replied: Yes, and these two brothers have more bitcoins than anyone knows.