U.S. Global Investors, a Texas-based investment company with $4.6 billion in assets under management has purchased Bitcoin exposure. The investment firm already has significant exposure to gold and other natural resources.
According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings dated Aug. 30, U.S. Global Investors added more than $566,389 in shares of Grayscale Bitcoin (BTC) Trust, or GBTC, to three of its eight mutual funds as of June 30.
The corporation put $302,899 GBTC into its Gold and Precious Metals Fund, $222,532 into its World Precious Minerals Fund, and $40,958 into its Global Resources Fund, according to the documents.
Given that the Gold and Precious Metals Fund alone has around $158 million in assets under management, the Bitcoin exposure might account for up to 0.19 percent of the net assets in the funds.
However, coming from a company with major exposure to gold, minerals, precious metals, petroleum, and other natural resources, it appears to be an unexpected investment. The GBTC is also classed as common equity by US Global Investors.
“This is neither surprising nor indicative of a shift in how other gold equity managers regard crypto or Bitcoin,” said gold bug Peter Schiff, who pointed out that Frank Holmes, the CEO of U.S. Global Investors, is also the executive chair of crypto mining startup Hive Blockchain.
The prices of Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) might reach $80,000 and $3,000, respectively, in 2021, according to Holmes, a gold fanatic like Schiff.
Despite the fact that Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $64,899 in April, the price of ETH exceeded the CEO’s expectations, reaching an all-time high of $4,384 in May.
Other large investment organizations have purchased GBTC for a variety of reasons, including hedging inflation bets and responding to investor interest.
Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is owned by Morgan Stanley’s Insight Fund, while SEC filings show that Edge Wealth Management, JPMorgan Chase, Ark Invest, and Rothschild Investment Corporation also have BTC exposure through Grayscale.
