Asset Management Firms Around The World Increase Their Exposure To Cryptocurrencies

by Simon Briggs

The massive growth of the crypto sector over the past couple of years has put many institutional investors on the lookout for exposure to the crypto world. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission published a document, announcing that Capital International Investors, a division of Los Angeles-based Capital Group, bought a 12.2% stake in MicroStrategy.

MicroStrategy became notorious with its whale Bitcoin acquisitions, which pushed the price of the leading cryptocurrency up. The Capital Group subsidiary bought 953,242 shares, worth around $561 million as of press time.

The 12% share acquisition means that Capital International Investors has an indirect exposure to MicroStrategy’s BTC treasury, which totals 105,085 BTC, and worth around $3.4 billion as of press time.

The data analytics company began its Bitcoin hoovering in August 2020, when MicroStrategy piled up $250 million worth of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor became one of Bitcoin’s most prominent backers.

However, the Capital Group subsidiary isn’t the largest investor in MicroStrategy, as financial planning and investment management company BlackRock has a 14.56% stake in MicroStrategy.

Meanwhile, the largest digital asset management company in the world, Grayscale, announced that the Registration Statement on Form 10 that it filed with the SEC is now in full swing.

This is big news for Grayscale investors, as its Digital Large Cap fund shares are now registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Craig Salm, Vice President of Legal at Grayscale Investments, noted that “Grayscale aims to provide the investment community with a higher level of disclosure and reporting on top of the already stringent obligations to which our products adhere.”

“We hold our products to a higher standard because this is what investors want and what we believe they deserve. Events such as the Fund becoming our third SEC reporting company, and the additional Form 10 filings, signal that there is continued investor interest in gaining exposure to the growing digital currency ecosystem within existing regulatory frameworks, and that regulators continue to engage with market participants in the asset class.,” Salm added.

Furthermore, Grayscale filed SEC registration statements on Form 10 for the Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust, Ethereum Classic Trust, and Litecoin Trust. If approved, they would join the Bitcoin and Ethereum funds.