American digital asset management company, Grayscale, has received permission from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to publicly quote their Digital Large Cap Fund (DLC) on the over-the-counter (OTC) Markets under the symbol of GDLCF.
As the “…first publicly-quoted security in the U.S. deriving value from a diverse selection of digital currencies” GDLCF will initially hold a portfolio of five assets – Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) – with Bitcoin making up around 80% of the total holdings.
Digital Currency Group
Established by the Digital Currency Group in 2013, Grayscale already provide a range of single digital asset investment products that focus on BTC, ETH, Ethereum Classic (ETC), XRP, BCH, LTC, Horizen (ZEN), Stellar Lumens (XLM), and Zcash (Zcash) – the first three of which are available on the OTC market trading under the names of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), and Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG).
Thought to be the world’s largest digital currency manager and currently managing around $2.1 billion in assets, Grayscale have reportedly been attracting heavy investment from institutional clients. They were also the entity responsible for causing a marketing stir earlier this year when suggesting Bitcoin is the new gold.
Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund has been available to accredited investors since February 2018 and those shares will become eligible to sell in the public market once the final stamp of approval is received from the Depository Trust Company (DTC), a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).
Based in New York, Grayscale’s DLC Fund is not deemed a standard Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) and is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and so is not subject to certain requirements mandated by certain U.S. securities laws that have foiled attempts by other companies to launch ETF-type products.
The new digital asset class, whether in its true, stand-alone form or as an exchange-based or fund-based derivative, has proven to be a challenge for existing securities and commodity regulators which has possibly been a contributing factor in the issuing this month of a USA Presidential Order on improving agency guidelines.
