If Grayscale Was an ETF, it Would Have Been The 19th Largest with AUM of $60B

Following yesterday’s price increases and new records, the world’s largest digital asset manager reached an ATH of its own in terms of AUM by topping $60 billion.

Interestingly, if the company operated as an exchange-traded fund, it would have been the 19th-largest.

If ETF, Grayscale Would Be in Top 20

Launched in 2013, Grayscale is the largest cryptocurrency asset manager with an AUM of over $60 billion as of yesterday’s update. To have a clear view of this meteoric rise, one should keep in mind that just two years ago – at the end of 2019 – the AUM stood at roughly $2 billion. It increased by ten-fold in 2020 and is now 200% up 2021.

Aside from being the leader in the cryptocurrency industry, these numbers have propelled Grayscale into the main stage scene among traditional financial instruments.

Although it’s not an exchange-traded fund (yet), it’s intriguing to compare how it would perform against the world’s largest ones. Data from etfdb.com shows that the leading such product is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, with over $400 billion in AUM.

Further down below are giants like iShares Core S&P 500 ETF ($325B), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF ($290B), and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ($275B).

With its $60 billion, Grayscale would have taken the 19th spot in this ranking. Interestingly, it would have been ahead of the largest ETF tracking the performance of gold – SPDR Gold Shares.

GBTC to Become Spot ETF?

While on the matter of ETFs, it’s worth noting that Grayscale’s core mission since its conception eight years ago was to convert its largest trust – Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – into an exchange-traded fund.

As a US-based company, though, the mere thought of having a Bitcoin ETF approved by the SEC was science fiction, at least until October this year. The situation changed when the watchdog allowed two BTC Futures ETFs to go live in the span of the week.

Although they were both futures-based, the community believes that a spot ETF could be right around the corner as well. In fact, Grayscale’s CEO – Michael Sonnenshein – asserted so himself recently, saying it was a matter of when not if.

Most recently, reports emerged claiming that the firm had already filed with the SEC to make the transition from GBTC to a Bitcoin ETF.