Over 100K BTC Moved to Exchange by GBTC Following Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch

• GBTC Shifts Over 19,000 Bitcoin from its Publicly Known Wallet
• GBTC's Holdings Decrease Significantly
• Reasons for GBTC Outflow
• Impact on Bitcoin Prices
• Effect on Bitcoin Bulls

GBTC Shifts Over 19,000 Bitcoin from its Publicly Known Wallet

Grayscale's Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% Trust (GBTC) has transferred more than 19,000 bitcoin (BTC) from its public wallet on Wednesday morning. This move comes after the activation of spot bitcoin ETFs on January 11. According to compiled data from Arkham, Grayscale has, since then, transferred nearly 113,000 bitcoin from its wallet. The bulk of these transfers were directed towards Coinbase Prime in anticipation of a sale.

GBTC's Holdings Decrease Significantly

The Grayscale website displayed GBTC as holding approximately 537,000 bitcoin on Wednesday morning. This signifies a reduction of about 100,000 BTC since January 11. However, according to Arkham, not all the observed bitcoin transfers from the Grayscale wallet may be related to redemption. Arkham stated, The outflows are typically split between Coinbase Prime and new GBTC custody addresses. This implies that not all of the moved BTC is being redeemed. These outflows seem to be settlements of trading activity from the prior day or days.

Reasons for GBTC Outflow

A range of factors could explain this large-scale outflow from GBTC. Primarily, Grayscale reduced its management fee from 50 basis points to 1.50% after converting to a spot ETF. This fee is over 100 basis points higher than that of the other nine rival bitcoin ETFs. This week, Grayscale's Assets Under Management (AUM) have decreased by over $1 billion each day.

Impact on Bitcoin Prices

The rapid rate of GBTC bitcoin sales is one of the factors influencing the price of bitcoin. Earlier this week, the price of bitcoin dropped below $40,000 for the first time in nearly two months. Bitcoin was trading at about $39,800 at the time of reporting, remaining roughly stable over the past 24 hours.

Effect on Bitcoin Bulls

Bitcoin bulls' hopes were temporarily lifted earlier this week following a report that FTX$3.28 -5.38% estate had sold its 22 million share GBTC holding. With this non-economic whale seller out of the way, it was hoped that there might be a deceleration in GBTC exits. However, as seen by the 19,000 bitcoin transfer to exchanges this morning, this slowdown has not occurred.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker