- Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has identified Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust as the second-largest holder of Bitcoin (BTC) globally, dispersed across more than 1,700 addresses.
- This assertion aligns with Grayscale’s website, which states that the company’s total assets in the Bitcoin fund are over $16 billion.
- Arkham Intelligence’s announcement positions the company as a pioneering entity in identifying specific addresses associated with the GBTC fund.
According to Arkham’s recent research, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is the second-largest BTC holder in the world, distributed across more than 1,700 addresses.
According to Arkham, Grayscale Holds the Most Bitcoin
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has identified Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust as the second-largest holder of Bitcoin (BTC) globally, dispersed across more than 1,700 addresses. This disclosure comes despite Grayscale’s efforts to keep the trust’s on-chain addresses confidential.
Arkham Intelligence made the announcement in a post on September 6, stating that Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is the world’s second-largest BTC asset, holding over $16 billion worth of Bitcoin. This aligns with Grayscale’s website, which reports the company’s total assets in the Bitcoin fund as over $16 billion.
While Grayscale discloses all balances publicly, it has never revealed or disclosed any of the trust’s on-chain addresses. Arkham also disclosed that Bitcoin is distributed across more than 1,750 different addresses, each containing approximately 1,000 BTC or less. These addresses were identified despite Grayscale’s efforts to keep all on-chain addresses of the trust confidential. Last year, Grayscale faced significant speculation and scrutiny regarding its Bitcoin holdings following the collapse of the FTX exchange.
At the time, Grayscale attributed this to not publishing or disclosing any associated on-chain addresses. Coinbase, the trust’s custodian, later released a report disclosing the assets held on behalf of Grayscale, which partially quelled the speculation.
Arkham’s Research
Arkham Intelligence’s announcement establishes the company as a pioneering organization in identifying specific addresses associated with the GBTC fund. Previously, Arkham had identified Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust as the second-largest holder of Ethereum. Addresses associated with Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust held assets worth $5 billion. Additionally, Arkham had identified Robinhood as the owner of the third-largest Bitcoin wallet and the fifth-largest Ethereum wallet.
Meanwhile, despite downward trends keeping BTC’s price below $26,000, GBTC’s discount has remained below 20%. The discount dropped to the lowest levels in two years after Grayscale secured a significant legal victory against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that rejected the firm’s attempt to convert its Bitcoin Trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The court determined that the SEC had arbitrarily and capriciously denied the firm’s Bitcoin Trust-to-ETF conversion attempt.
