Digital asset management firm Grayscale is seeing demand skyrocket for its flagship investment product Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), indicating that institutional money is flowing into the top cryptocurrency.
Using recent data released by Grayscale, analyst Kevin Rooke is tracking the average weekly investment in GBTC, which soared from $3.2 million in the first quarter of 2019 to $29.9 million in the first quarter of 2020.
Barry Silbert, founder and chief executive of Grayscale, replied to Rooke’s tweet and says demand for GBTC is even stronger now.
“Just wait until you see Q2…”
The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is backed by real BTC, giving investors a way to to gain exposure to the world’s leading cryptocurrency without having to directly purchase the underlying asset.
Across all of its products, which cover XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum Classic, Stellar Lumens, Zcash and Horizen, Grayscale reported a total inflow of $503.7 million in the first quarter of the year.
The firm says investors are increasingly interested in its products despite the current risk-off environment.
“88% of inflows this quarter came from institutional investors, the overwhelming majority of which were hedge funds. The mandate and strategic focus of these funds is broadly mixed and includes Multi-Strat, Global Macro, Arbitrage, Long/Short Equity, Event Driven, and Crypto-focused funds.”