Wealthfront to Offer Cryptocurrency Exposure to its Clients Through Grayscale

The financial institution Wealthfront announced it would expand its menu of digital asset investments by including Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE). Additionally, the company would provide more solutions to its customers with cryptocurrencies different than BTC and ETH.

Wealthfront Customers Can Now Invest in GBTC and ETHE

The California-based investment provider Wealthfront with more than $25 billion in assets under management, revealed in a recent blog post that its users can now diversify their portfolios by allocating funds in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE).

The clients would neither need wallets to take advantage of the service nor be required to open an account in a cryptocurrency exchange.

However, Wealthfront warned that such investments can be risky and more volatile than most ETFs and would limit the initiative. With that being said, investors would not be able to allocate more than 10% of their total portfolios into GBTC or ETHE.

The company also expanded its menu of ETFs and assured its nearly 440,000 users that soon it would offer even more cryptocurrency options:

“For example, you can now choose from a bigger selection of ARK ETFs, pick ETFs that are specific to industries like cannabis or self-driving cars, or choose from a larger pool of socially responsible investments. The choice is yours.”

GBTC Can Surpass The Largest Gold ETF

Grayscale is the largest digital asset manager that enables institutional investors to receive exposure to various cryptocurrencies without having to worry about storing or managing their funds. The company has enjoyed a massive increase in clients in the past year and a half, with GBTC taking the most substantial portion.

In fact, the growth of the Bitcoin Trust prompted some to believe that it could actually surpass the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) – the largest gold-tracking ETF.

The difference between the two was significant in the middle of last year when the GLD was riding high with its AUM exceeding $80 billion while the GBTC was struggling beneath $5 billion. Yet, as institutions opened their minds to bitcoin and started accumulated massive portions, the gap began to close. At the end of 2020, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust skyrocketed to about $20 billion.

2021 started even more impressively for GBTC as its AUM neared $40 billion. Somewhat expectedly, this expansion caused many experts to believe that the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust can soon outweigh the GLD.

However, according to a recent analysis, institutional demand for Bitcoin and Ethereum investment products has  started to slow down, and surpassing the SPDR Gold Shares now seems less likely:

“Between observations of the GBTC premium, net outflows from the combined Purpose and QBTC ETFs, and a stagnant Coinbase balance, institutional demand appears to remain somewhat lackluster.”