Digital Asset-Focused Investment Platform Grayscale Prepares to Go Public

The company said in a Monday (July 14) press release that it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“The number of shares to be registered and the price range for the proposed registration have not yet been determined,” the company said in the release. “The registration is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”

Grayscale Investments was founded in 2013 and facilitates investments in the digital economy through investment products, the company said in a July 7 press release.

The company won a court battle with the SEC in 2023 over the company’s efforts to create a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) despite the agency’s objections, PYMNTS reported at the time.

An earlier court ruling that required the SEC to reconsider Grayscale Investments’ application for the first bitcoin ETF sparked optimism among traders that it could pave the way for broader investor adoption of bitcoin-backed ETFs.

Michael Sonnenshein, who was CEO of the company at the time, said after the ruling: “Grayscale has adhered to U.S. financial rules and regulations in building our product suite since our founding in 2013, underpinned by one fundamental belief: investors deserve transparent, regulated access to crypto.”

The company’s move to go public follows news of some other, similar efforts in this space.

On Tuesday (July 8), digital asset management firm ReserveOne announced plans for a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger with M3-Brigade Acquisition V Corp., saying it would go public in a $1 billion deal.

Cryptocurrency platform Gemini said June 6 that it confidentially submitted a draft registration statement with the SEC for an initial public offering.

Gemini said in its June 5 Weekly Market Update that the upsized initial public offering of Circle indicated “there’s huge appetite for a growing cryptocurrency company in an industry aided by significant macroeconomic tailwinds.”

On June 5, Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, made its public listing on the New York Stock Exchange. Priced at $31 per share, the company’s stock surged to close at $83.23 on its first day, tripling its value and signaling robust investor confidence in the future of regulated digital assets.