DCG, facing competition from Bitcoin ETFs, plans to buy more Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

The crypto conglomerate says it may buy up to $1 billion of subsidiary Grayscale’s flagship product.

Digital Currency Group (CoinDesk’s parent company) is planning to hoover up to a billion dollars worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

• With subsidiary Grayscale’s flagship product facing sudden competition for brokerage accounts’ bitcoin dollars, the crypto conglomerate increased its GBTC buy range by $250 million, DCG announced Wednesday. It said it has bought $388 million shares of GBTC so far.

• The authorization comes as bitcoin-curious mainstream investors look beyond Grayscale for crypto exposure. On Tuesday, ProShares, a Wall Street fund shop, launched the first bitcoin futures-linked exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the U.S. The ETF (NYSE: BITO) closed the day with $570 million in assets.

• GBTC, meanwhile, ended Tuesday at a 16.55% discount relative to the price of bitcoin after that figure hit a five-month low of 20.5% on Monday. The trust has its own plans to become an ETF, a conversion unlikely to happen any time soon.