- The selling takes FTX’s holding in Grayscale to zero.
- The move happened when Alameda Research dropped the case against Grayscale.
Embattled crypto exchange FTX sold all its 22 million shares in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust since it became an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The selling totaled about $1 billion, nearly half the total of more than $2 billion outflows from the ETF.
FTX had shares in Grayscale bitcoin and many other trusts, with their value peaking at around $900 million when Grayscale’s ETF started trading on January 11. The news of the share sale comes when Bitcoin has been under pressure since the approval of the spot ETF, defying expectations that it will gain in value.
See Related: GBTC Price Prediction after Judges Raised Hope for Investors In Favour Of Grayscale
FTX-Linked Alameda Drops Case Against Grayscale
Meanwhile, FTX-linked firm Alameda Research has dropped its case against Grayscale Investments. The lawsuit, filed in March, accused Grayscale of excessively high fees and $9 billion allegedly trapped in GBTC after the collapse of FTX.
In the Monday filing, Alameda did not disclose the reason for dropping the case, although Grayscale had refuted the accusations. Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein and parent company chief Barry Silvert were also dropped from the suit.
Investors might now be reading from the two scripts as GBTC holders could not sell their positions easily before the fund converted to an ETF. The conversion to an ETF saw around $2.8 billion in outflows from GBTC.
The market news of FTX selling GBTC shares pushed the price of Bitcoin below $40,000. However, the selling pressure, which started after the ETF approval, is expected to ease since FTX is now done selling its significant holding in GBTC.
