coinfomania.com
New York-based crypto asset manager, Grayscale announced Monday that it had received approval from the U.S Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to sell Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) as publicly-quoted Shares or securities.
The move will see Grayscale offer investors exposure to Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin on OTC markets using the symbols BCHG and LTCN. In simpler terms, investors can record profit or losses based on the price movement of these assets without having to buy or store the underlying cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Litecoin (LTC) currently rank as the fifth and eighth-largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, respectively, according to CoinMarketCap. The altcoins will gain more mainstream exposure, especially to institutional investors through the latest development since such a product was not formerly available to U.S investors.
Grayscale currently boasts $4.1 billion in assets under management, with the latest offering already increasing the company’s growing suite of crypto-related investment products, which also includes a Stellar (XLM) Trust added in early 2019.
Until now, Grayscale reportedly offered private placements in the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Trust and Litecoin (LTC) Trust to only accredited investors. The latest approval, however, allows Grayscale to create secondary markets for new private placements.
Per its website, the Bitcoin Cash Trust as of June 30 had approximately $5.1 million in assets under management and 2,725,300 Shares outstanding with each share representing ownership of 0.00943312 Bitcoin Cash.
On the other hand, the Litecoin Trust had $2 million in assets under management, with 509,400 Shares outstanding of the Trust, and each share represented ownership of 0.09433120 Litecoin.
The asset manager will not make public the trading volume data on the Shares’ public quotations available until both BCHG and LTCN receives approval as Depository Trust Companies (DTC). However, Grayscale assures that the approval won’t take long in coming.
Grayscale has had a stellar first half of the year, with total investment into the company’s suite of crypto-investment products reaching $1.4 billion. Grayscale had also reportedly been buying up 100% and more of Bitcoin (BTC) issued since the May halving.