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Grayscale to Open Ethereum Trust to Individual Investors

Grayscale to Open Ethereum Trust to Individual Investors

(Bloomberg) -- Grayscale Investments LLC said its structured note that holds the cryptocurrency Ether will open soon to mom-and-pop buyers after receiving secondary-market trading approval.

Launched in December 2017 during the height of the crypto bubble, the Grayscale Ethereum Trust was initially only available to accredited and institutional investors at a minimum of $25,000 through private purchases. Small investors will be able to buy shares in the trust in over-the-counter markets after gaining approval by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a self-regulatory organization.

"The secondary market really opens up the opportunity for any and all investors,” Michael Sonnenshein, managing director of New York-based Grayscale Investments, said in a phone interview.

Grayscale Ethereum Trust currently has about $12.5 million in assets under management, Sonnenshein said. Each of the trust’s shares, which will trade as ETHE, is equivalent to about one-tenth of an Ether. There won’t be any trading volume available until the shares are DTC eligible.

Grayscale to Open Ethereum Trust to Individual Investors

Investors in the Ethereum Trust who have held shares for a year or longer will now be able to sell these shares over the counter.

Grayscale has already received approvals for secondary-market trading for its Bitcoin and Ethereum Classic trusts. The trust are eligible for investors to hold in IRA, 401K or brokerage-account funds.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, has rallied about 80% this year to around $237, after plunging from more than $1,100 at the start of 2018.

To contact the reporter on this story: Olga Kharif in Portland at okharif@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka, Brendan Walsh

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