​​GBTC approval could return a ‘couple billion dollars’ to inv | Crypto Mountains

​​GBTC approval could return a ‘couple billion dollars’ to investors.

Grayscale Investments’ boss, Michael Sonnenshein, said that if GBTC got the green light to “convert” to a spot Bitcoin ETF, there would “no longer” be a discount or a premium amid ongoing legal action against the SEC.

In a recent interview, Grayscale Investments’ CEO Michael Sonnenshein stated he “can’t imagine” why the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “wouldn’t want” to protect Grayscale investors and return the true asset value to them.

In a Feb. 25 interview on What Bitcoin Did, a popular podcast hosted by Peter McCormack, Sonnenshein explained that the SEC “violated the administrative procedures act” by denying approval for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) to be a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), in June 2022.

He explained that this act ensures the regulator doesn’t show “favoritism” or act “arbitrarily,” adding that the SEC acted “arbitrarily” by approving Bitcoin Futures ETFs while rejecting “GBTC’s conversion.“

Sonnenshein noted that when the SEC started approving the first Bitcoin ETFs, Grayscale took it “as a sign” that the SEC was “changing their attitude to Bitcoin.”

He said there is a “couple billion dollars” of capital that would immediately go back into investors’ pockets, on an “overnight basis,” if GBTC was approved as a spot Bitcoin ETF, as the fund would “bleed back” up to its net asset value (NAV).

Sonnenshein explained that this is due to GBTC currently trading at a discount to its NAV, but if it were to convert to an ETF, there would “no longer” be a discount or a premium; there would be an “arbitraged mechanism” embedded.

He reiterated that Grayscale is in the process of “suing the SEC now,” and could have a decision challenging the SEC’s denial of its initial application by as early as “fall 2023.”

He also noted that Grayscale has over a “million investor accounts,” with investors worldwide counting on the firm to “do the right thing for them.”

Sonnenshein “can’t imagine” why the SEC wouldn’t want to “protect investors” and “return that value” to them.