US Banking Giant Morgan Stanley Dramatically Increasing Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Investment

November 26, 2021 The Daily Hodl

Grayscale Thinks the Metaverse Could Be a $1T Market

November 25, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

The Metaverse is a $1T opportunity after users increase 10X: Grayscale report

November 25, 2021 Coin Telegraph

The Metaverse is a T opportunity after users increase 10X: Grayscale report

According to a new report from Grayscale, the rate of active Metaverse users increased by 10X between the start of 2020 and June 2021.

Crypto investment giant Grayscale has published a bullish report on the Metaverse, estimating that the “market opportunity” for bringing the Metaverse to the mainstream may be worth over $1 trillion in the next few years.

The November report titled “The Metaverse, Web 3.0 Virtual Cloud Economies” was authored by Grayscale Head of research David Grider and research analyst Matt Maximo. The duo explores the burgeoning sector primarily from the perspective of open Metaverse worlds backed by an “interconnected crypto-economy” such as Decentraland.

The report highlights that Metaverse platforms integrated with crypto tokens, decentralized finance (DeFi) services such as staking and lending, NFTs, decentralized governance and decentralized cloud storage have “created a new online experience” that’s rapidly attracting new users.

Analyzing “global all-time active metaverse wallets” data since the start of 2020, it found the user base has grown by 10X since that time to sit at around 50,000 as of June 2021.

“Compared to other Web 3.0 and Web 2.0 segments, Metaverse virtual world users are still in their early innings, but if current growth rates remain on their current trajectory, this emerging segment has the potential to become mainstream in the coming years.”

The report highlights that there’s no shortage of VCs taking a punt on the sector’s potential. According to the report, fundraising totaled $1 billion for blockchain gaming in Q3. That represented 12% of total fundraising for the entire crypto sector in the quarter, ranking it as the “top sub-sector” within the Web 3.0 and NFT category.

Market opportunity

The researchers note a range of key dynamics that could significantly contribute to the growth of the Metaverse sector, including growing average leisure time and money spent on digital hobbies, a cultural shift from premium games to free-to-play gaming and Web 3.0 innovations such as play-to-earn (P2E).

Global revenue from virtual world gaming totaled $180 billion in 2020, with “premium spending" accounting for around $40 billion, with estimates the sector could pull in more than $400 billion by 2025, primarily driven by the in-game spending model.

The report argues that this shift is “accelerating further with the transition from Web 2.0 closed corporate Metaverses to Web 3.0 open crypto Metaverse networks,” due to the play-to-earn potential they represent.

“Web 3.0 Metaverse virtual worlds have benefited from rapid innovation and productivity gains. Crypto virtual worlds have created a multi-million dollar primary and secondary market for creators and asset owners by eliminating capital controls and opening their digital borders to free-market capitalism,” the report reads.

The price of the native tokens for open Metaverse platforms such as Decentraland (MANA) and The Sandbox (SAND) have been on a tear of late, gaining 49% and 102% each to sit at $5.03 and $7.60 at the time of writing.

Morgan Stanley increased exposure to Bitcoin, held $300M in Grayscale shares

November 24, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Morgan Stanley increased exposure to Bitcoin, held 0M in Grayscale shares

Banks

The investment firm's exposure to Bitcoin across three major funds totals roughly $303 million with 6,626,381 shares as of Sept. 30.

Investment funds from major U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley have increased their exposure to Bitcoin through purchases of shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

According to filings from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday, the Morgan Stanley Insight Fund increased its holdings of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, or GBTC, shares more than 63%, from 928,051 in the second quarter of 2021 to 1,520,549 as of Sept. 30. In addition, filings on the firm’s Growth Portfolio show it holding 3,642,118 GBTC shares in the third quarter of 2021, an increase of 71% when compared with 2,130,153 shares as of Q2. The Morgan Stanley Global Opportunity Portfolio held 1,463,714 GBTC, a 59% increase from 919,805 shares in three months.

At the time of publication, the price of GBTC is $45.72, making the investment bank’s exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) across these three funds roughly $303 million with 6,626,381 shares as of Sept. 30. The BTC price was under $50,000 for much of September, but the crypto asset has since reached an all-time high price of $69,000 before sliding back to the $56,000s.

The respective portfolios and funds allow Morgan Stanley to gain exposure to Bitcoin (BTC) without investing directly in the cryptocurrency. Cointelegraph reported in September that the firm’s Europe Opportunity Fund, which invests in established and emerging companies throughout Europe, more than doubled its shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust since April. However, the fund has not reported additional BTC exposure at the time of publication.

Whether investing indirectly through Grayscale or by backing blockchain platforms, Morgan Stanley seems to be dipping its toes deeper into the crypto space. In September, the firm announced it would be setting up a crypto-focused research division aimed at exploring the “growing significance of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets in global markets.”

DCG Secures $600M Credit Facility

November 18, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

Crypto Giant Grayscale Now Manages Nearly $60,000,000,000 in Total Assets

November 13, 2021 The Daily Hodl

‘#DropGold worked’ — Grayscale ‘flippens’ world’s largest gold fund as AUM hits $60B

November 11, 2021 Coin Telegraph

‘#DropGold worked’ — Grayscale ‘flippens’ world’s largest gold fund as AUM hits B

Bitcoin

The cryptocurrency investment giant has also seen “massive” options volume as gold takes a fresh beating and institutions seek Bitcoin exposure.

Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin investment firm Grayscale now has more assets under management (AUM) than the world’s biggest gold fund.

According to the latest data from issuer Grayscale, Grayscale now controls over $60 billion — $1.7 billion more than the leading gold fund, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD).

Praise for Grayscale, futures ETFs

Grayscale’s flagship Bitcoin product, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), meanwhile, contains over 646,000 BTC, worth around $41.75 billion as of Nov. 11.

The figures add to the debate over gold as a store of value and inflation hedge versus Bitcoin, as inflation cuts through the United States and global economies.

With gold flagging compared to BTC/USD, the allure of giving capital Bitcoin exposure has arguably never made more sense.

*GBTC price, holdings and premium chart. Source: Coinglass*

A month after the first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds (ETF) launched, volumes are “massive,” Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said this week.

The first licensed U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, is nearing 50% of the options volume seen in GLD.

The options volume today on $BITO was MASSIVE for a new launch. It's also been growing quickly, can see via the avgs. For context, it's already seeing about half the options volume as $GLD (which is stud level). pic.twitter.com/3sBYtgASkk
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) November 10, 2021

“Guess the #DropGold campaign worked,” investor and analyst Kevin Rooke added, noting that GBTC, meanwhile, had “flippened” GLD in terms of AUM.

Grayscale notes “political” involvement in spot ETF approval

As Cointelegraph reported, GBTC itself is set to convert to an ETF, subject to U.S. regulatory approval, as early as summer 2022.

In an interview with CNN this week, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein appeared cool on the tense topic of regulatory approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs, with the first decision due next week.

Gary Gensler, the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, remains tight-lipped on the potential for the watershed moment.

“What’s been interesting to see, however, is this is not just a regulatory issue now; this has become a political issue,” Sonnenshein told the network.

“In the last week, we actually saw bipartisan support for a Bitcoin spot ETF, with Reps. Emmer and Soto submitting a letter to chairman Gensler actually calling for the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF and really wanting to ensure there’s a level playing field for investors as they choose between what could be a futures-based product for them or a spot-based product for them.”

Futures ETFs were in line for subtle criticism, however, having garnered scorn from other institutional sources since October.

“We’ve seen now the approval of the first Bitcoin futures-based ETF, which is a really important moment for our industry and something that we’re all very excited about,” he added.

“But as folks have been drilling in on this, they’ve come to realize that perhaps the embedded roll costs and some of the other features in the futures products may in fact make it not as optimal for investors looking for Bitcoin exposure in their portfolios.”

Grayscale