Osprey Bitcoin Trust seeks merger or sale with existing bitcoin ETF

Before Grayscale converted its trust, Osprey’s trust was a competitor

article-image

Osprey Funds and Adobe Stock modified by Blockworks

share

Osprey Bitcoin Trust (OBTC) warned Tuesday that it needs to either sell the Trust or merge with an existing bitcoin ETF. 

“As part of the strategic process, the Sponsor plans to consider a wide range of options, and is in various discussions about a potential sale of the Trust to, or merger with, an existing Bitcoin ETF,” the Trust said in a statement

However, “in the event such talks do not conclude positively, the Sponsor intends to liquidate and dissolve the Trust within 180 days from today,” it continued.

The decision to seek “strategic alternatives” came after the Trust said it was “aware that the common units of fractional undivided beneficial interest of the Trust are trading at a discount to the value of Bitcoin.”

The Trust will file a Form 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to deregister. 

Last January, Osprey looked into taking over management of Grayscale’s bitcoin trust. The trust, which is still managed by Grayscale, was one of a handful of bitcoin ETFs to launch in January. 

Prior to the conversion of Grayscale’s fund, Osprey’s Trust was a competitor to GBTC. 

At the end of January last year, the trust’s parent company even launched a lawsuit against Grayscale. Osprey claimed that Grayscale misled investors by engaging in “deceptive acts and unfair competition.” 

At the time, Grayscale had recently launched its suit against the SEC after the agency blocked GBTC’s first conversion.

In August of last year, a court sided with Grayscale and ordered the SEC to once again consider GBTC’s application to convert to an ETF. In January of this year, the SEC voted to greenlight the spot bitcoin ETFs.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research

article-image

Turns out that owning the end-user via a crypto wallet is quite a prosperous business

article-image

The announcement followed growing speculation that Gensler would announce his exit before Trump takes office next year

article-image

HashKey’s Jupiter Zheng highlighted three success areas he’s watching: Ethereum, Solana and certain tokens in DeFi

article-image

Jack explored the various AI and memecoin projects that have sprung up over the past month

article-image

If gold remains steady today, a single move from bitcoin to $98,500 would do it

article-image

Revenue estimates for the third quarter come in at $33 billion, which would be an 83% increase from the prior year