Grayscale gets FINRA green light for crypto-based security

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New York-based Grayscale has revealed in a press release that shares of its Digital Large Cap Fund (DLC) have received the green light from FINRA for public quotation on over-the-counter markets. The shares will trade under the symbol GDLCF and will be the first publicly-quoted security in the U.S. that derives its value from a selection of digital currencies.

The DLC fund gives investors exposure to the price movement of a diverse set of large-cap digital currencies, according to Grayscale, allowing them to avoid the hassles that can come with the buying, storing and safekeeping of cryptos directly.

While it’s only getting FINRA approval for public quotation now, the fund has been available privately to accredited investors since February 2018. Investors who acquired the shares during the private placement will have to wait for the statutory one-year period before they can sell their shares on the public market.

In more good news, Grayscale revealed that it recorded the best quarter yet since it was founded in 2013. The firm brought in $254.9 million in Q3, a record for a quarter. Inflows for the year now stand at $412 million, with the total assets under management for the firm standing at a whopping $2 billion.

In an episode of The Scoop podcast, Grayscale’s managing director Michael Sonnenshein shared, “I actually think that we had a day where we raise over $75 million in a single day — which was the largest inflow we ever had in a single day.”

Sonnenshein believes the rapid growth in their inflows owes largely to the firm’s #DropGold campaign. The campaign, which ruffled quite a few feathers in Wall Street, called on investors to ditch gold and turn to crypto.

Sonnenshein further dismissed the notion that institutional investors have stayed away from crypto, revealing that his team barely finds enough time to address all the interested investors. “What’s been interesting to see is that even though we only give ourselves two or three days in a given place we’re actually so busy we’re either have to divide and conquer as a team to make sure we see everyone or in a lot of instances we’re actually turning down meetings…”