After a hopefully enjoyable weekend, Crypto Week is upon us. Casey has more on that further down.

But first, Ben chatted with an asset allocator about the latest crypto company that took a step toward going public. Let’s do it:

Grayscale IPO incoming?

A month after Circle’s IPO, Grayscale Investments appears to be plotting a similar path.  

Chances are you’ve seen the company’s airport ads or recall it notched a big legal win against the SEC — even if you don’t know exactly what it’s up to these days.

Like Gemini did last month, Grayscale “confidentially” submitted a draft registration statement with the SEC. It’s a step toward going public. A spokesperson declined to comment further. 

The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) launched as a private offering in 2013 and debuted on the OTC market in 2015. It morphed to an ETF in January 2024 — several months after a court ruled that the SEC blocking the conversion (while allowing bitcoin futures ETFs to start trading) was “arbitrary and capricious.”

While GBTC has seen roughly $23 billion of net outflows since becoming an ETF, its AUM still sits near $22 billion. Grayscale’s cheaper bitcoin ETF that launched a year ago manages $5.3 billion in assets. 

Dan Weiskopf, a co-portfolio manager for the blockchain-focused Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOK), said an “innovative” company like Grayscale would have the scale, brand and focus required to be accepted on platforms, he added.

“When we have an opportunity to review the prospectus, we will be looking closely at expense control relative to its growth and how [it] expects to fight for market share,” Weiskopf told me.  

Grayscale going public in the US would offer rather unique exposure for crypto equity investors. It’s obviously a different type of business than Coinbase, and while Galaxy Digital offers several crypto funds with Invesco and State Street Global Advisors, it’s not exactly a pure-play ETF issuer. You could maybe link it to DeFi Technologies.

While WisdomTree might be a good comparison from a valuation standpoint, Weiskopf argued, “it has the diversity that Grayscale lacks.” 

WisdomTree had its IPO in 1991 and has grown its AUM to $126 billion. Though it offers a bitcoin ETF and tokenized funds, its equities, fixed income and alternatives business lines are bigger. BLOK’s allocation to WisdomTree is roughly 1.5%.

Grayscale has a few dozen private and publicly traded funds focused on other crypto assets. The SEC approved NYSE Arca’s 19b-4 to list shares of the Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) as an ETF. But the order was “stayed,” and Grayscale shot back in a letter last week: “The commission has no power to do this after the 240th day” of the 19b-4 being published in the federal register.

Beyond GDLC, the SEC has until October to rule on proposals from Grayscale and others to bring to market single-asset products that would hold litecoin (LTC), solana (SOL), XRP, dogecoin (DOGE) and more.

“How they manage the fee compression will be a challenge,” Weiskopf said about Grayscale, should these conversions gain approval. 

As bitcoin has soared in recent days (hovering around $120,000 this afternoon), we’ll see whether other crypto companies might take steps toward going public.  

Weiskopf estimates there are between 10 and 25 such firms at various stages of the confidential IPO filing process.

Among Grayscale’s main competitors is Bitwise. A spokesperson told me that while Bitwise has considered an IPO, its 2025 focus is “entirely on serving clients engaging with this space like never before.”

All’s to say, there’s more where this came from.

— Ben Strack

Check out the Digital Asset Summit early speaker lineup. Join attendees from BlackRock, Citi, Credit Suisse, Bank of England, Jane Street and more. 

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📅 October 13-15 | London

President Trump over the weekend announced a 30% tariff on goods imported from the EU, starting Aug. 1. 

It’s only the latest update in the trade war since Liberation Day back in April. EU leaders said they’ll be working to negotiate with the US, and have delayed their counter levies until next month.

Happy Monday. We have a busy week ahead, on both the macro and crypto fronts. In Washington, the House’s “Crypto Week” — during which Reps. will consider three pieces of legislation — kicks off today. 

Tomorrow and Wednesday we’ll get inflation updates, followed by some Fed speak and tariff-related data later in the week. Here’s what we’re watching: 

• The House is slated to consider three crypto bills this week: the GENIUS Act (which passed in the Senate last month) the CLARITY Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act. The House Committee on Rules is scheduled to meet about the latter two measures on Monday afternoon to establish guidelines for debate and amendment consideration. The GENIUS Act is set to go to a full floor vote on Wednesday, according to sources close to the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

• June’s CPI report will be released Tuesday — followed by last month’s PPI report on Wednesday. The CPI is expected to show a 2.7% increase in prices over the year and a 0.3% increase from a month ago. Core CPI is projected to come in 0.3% higher over the month and 3% over the year. Headline PPI is expected to increase 0.2% over the month vs. a 0.1% bump in May. After May’s reports showed little signs of tariff-related price impacts, we’ll be watching to see if trade policies have started showing up in the data. 

• Fed officials are booked and busy this week. NY Fed President John Williams and Fed Gov. Michael Barr will both speak Wednesday. On Thursday, we’ll hear from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Fed Governors Lisa Cook, Adriana Kugler and Christopher Waller. Topics of discussion should include the inflation situation and the labor market. Markets are currently pricing in a 95% chance the FOMC leaves rates unchanged later this month. 

— Casey Wagner