OBTC unitholders will receive BITB shares in a liquidating distribution.
It has been announced that Bitwise Asset Management has acquired the Osprey Bitcoin Trust (OBTC).
According to a Tuesday press release, Bitwise is poised to integrate Osprey’s $120 million in assets under its own Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), marking a consolidation within the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) market.
In a liquidating distribution, BITB shares will be distributed to OBTC unitholders as part of the transaction.
Nothing Changes For Existing BITB Holders
Bitwise stressed that there will be no modifications to the fund’s operations or the shares held by current BITB holders.
Since February 2021, Osprey has been running its Bitcoin Trust, which is structured similarly to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust prior to its conversion to an ETF.
In contrast to direct Bitcoin investments, however, OBTC shares may trade at prices that differ from those of the real Bitcoin market due to premiums or discounts to the underlying Bitcoin holdings.
#Bitwise #Bitcoin #ETF (#BITB) is set to acquire $120 million in Bitcoin from the #Osprey Bitcoin #Trust (#OBTC) as part of an Asset Purchase Agreement.
— TOBTC (@_TOBTC) August 28, 2024
OBTC unitholders will receive BITB shares in exchange, with the transaction expected to close later this year.
This move… pic.twitter.com/zqI03AMrAx
According to recent data, the price of Bitcoin has decreased by 9.34% over the past month, but OBTC shares have decreased by 4.27%.
BITB, on the other hand, has decreased by a lesser amount, 8.56%, indicating a closer alignment with the price movements of Bitcoin.
Better tracking and a lower management fee of 0.2% instead of OBTC’s 0.49% are two benefits of switching to BITB for OBTC unitholders.
In its previously disclosed assessment of a possible sale or merger of the trust, Osprey recognized the acquisition as a critical step.
“This announcement follows Osprey’s prior communication regarding… the consideration of a potential sale or merger of the Trust,” Osprey wrote.
“The Bitwise acquisition is a major step in that process, allowing OBTC unitholders to take advantage of Bitwise’s size and experience.”
BITB, which debuted in January, is a player in a cutthroat industry that also includes Fidelity and BlackRock.
Notwithstanding the competition, BITB has drawn significant inflows and is now the fifth-largest Bitcoin spot ETF in the US, overseeing $2.4 billion in assets.
The acquisition comes after Bitwise recently acquired ETC Group, increasing its market share in Europe and elevating the total amount of assets under management to $4.5 billion.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs See Outflows
On Tuesday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows, breaking an eight-day streak of positive inflows, according to data from SoSoValue.
The funds had received $756 million in inflows over this time.
The net outflows from the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs totaled $127 million, and Valkyrie’s BRRR fund data has not been updated.
According to SoSoValue, ARKB, the stock of Ark & 21Shares, led the outflows with negative flows totaling $101.97 million.
There were net withdrawals of $18.32 million from Bitwise’s BITB fund and $6.76 million from Grayscale’s GBTC fund.
Eight funds, including BlackRock’s IBIT, reported no activity on Tuesday.
Excluding BRRR, the total trade volume for U.S. spot bitcoin funds reached $1.2 billion.
Since January, these funds have garnered $17.95 billion in net inflows.
On Tuesday, however, spot ether ETFs reported $3.45 million in negative flows, marking their ninth day in a row of net outflows.
On August 27, the total net outflow of Ethereum spot ETF was $3.4452 million, and it has been outflowing for nine consecutive days. Grayscale ETF ETHE had a net outflow of $9.1798 million in a single day, Fidelity ETF FETH had an inflow of $3.8792 million, and Bitwise ETF ETHW…
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) August 28, 2024
$9.18 million was the daily net outflow from Grayscale’s ether fund; this was somewhat offset by $3.88 million in net inflows into Fidelity’s FETH and $1.86 million into Bitwise’s ETHW.