Grayscale Hits $60 Billion AUM, Beats World’s Most Liquid Asset Gold ETF

The total asset under management AUM of Crypto firm Grayscale has now surpassed that of the world’s most liquid and largest asset gold ETF. Topping $60 billion in AUM, the digital asset manager has now surpassed the AUM of SPDR Gold Shares, arguably the world’s most liquid gold exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Grayscale Announces Its Superior AUM

Going by Wednesday’s announcement by Grayscale, the firm is now controlling $60.8 billion in AUM, compared to the present AUM of SDPR Gold Shares which is $58.3 billion.

Holding the lion share of Grayscale’s AUM is the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), accounts for $43.6 billion with the Grayscale Ethereum Trust holding $14.9 billion in AUM.

The Firm’s Long-standing Bitcoin ETF ambitions

For a long time now, Grayscale has been  harboring the ambition of converting the GBTC into a Bitcoin spot ETF. In fact, just last month the firm formally filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission SEC, to that effect.

So far, the SEC has rejected every other Bitcoin spot ETF proposal on its table, after approving Bitcoin futures ETFs from ProShares, Valkyrie, and VanEck.

While speaking at the Yahoo Finance and Decrypt “Crypto Goes Mainstream” event this week, Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein shared his opinion on the debate surrounding the approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF, saying it has now “become a political issue”.

Recall that earlier in November, Republican Rep. Tom Emmer and Democrat Rep. Darren Soto sent a bipartisan letter to SEC chair Gary Gensler. The letter asked questions regarding why the SEC has continued refusing to approve a Bitcoin spot ETF even though it is approving Bitcoin futures ETF.

Sonnenshein’s argument is in line with many others in the crypto industry. The debate is that, if the SEC is comfortable with the derivatives, knowing fully well that the futures contracts are getting their pricing from the spot market itself, then there should be no problems with the spot market.