Grayscale Making a Move Into European Markets: Report

Digital asset investment titan Grayscale is reportedly moving to expand its services to Europe, according to reports.

Bloomberg reports that the multi-billion dollar company is getting ready to move into European markets, as per statements from Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein.

While the firm hasn’t slated specific exchanges or platforms where its products will be offered, Sonnenshein said that he’s holding meetings with local insiders and partners to discuss the details. Grayscale is also planning on running multiple pilot programs to test out various markets.

​​“Although the EU is unified, we don’t view the entire European market as in fact one market,” Sonnenshein said. “Instead we’re going to be very thoughtful, very methodical about each of the financial centers and financial hubs that we ultimately launch in, because we recognize the differentiation of investor behaviours and attitudes, and of regulatory regimes.”

Grayscale, known for its Bitcoin trust, currently valued at $25 billion, also runs many other altcoin investment products, including its Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Solana (SOL) trusts.

The attempted expansion across the pond comes as Grayscale pushes harder than anyone to offer the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the US. The firm is in the middle of another campaign to get permission from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to convert its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) into an ETF, this time focusing on legal details to help support its case.

While SEC chair Gary Gensler has pushed a narrative that Bitcoin futures ETFs are safer for investors, most of the crypto space, including Grayscale, has trouble seeing any evidence of such.

“Because both spot and futures-based Bitcoin products face exposure to the same underlying Bitcoin market, any fraud or manipulation in the underlying market will affect both products in the same way,” Grayscale said. “The existence of these risks therefore cannot serve as justification for denying approval to one product once approval for the other product has been granted.”

Crypto ETPs have already taken off in Europe, with over 73 different products with more than $7 billion in assets flowing through their markets.