- Altshuler Shaham Investment House invested $100 million in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.
- The new investment doubled the Israeli asset manager’s Bitcoin stake.
- The news follows Chinese tech company Meitu’s $40 million crypto investment.
Israeli firm, Altshuler Shaham Investment House, invested $100 million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the world’s largest Bitcoin fund. However, this is not the asset firm’s first Bitcoin purchase.
The investment house made its first purchase late last year. In fact, the recent move doubled Altshuler Shaham’s Bitcoin stake. Although Altshuler Shaham sold one-third of its holding, the remainder is still worth more than the purchase price.
Also, this is the first time an Israeli institution has acquired a holding in Bitcoin of this magnitude for customers. Altshuler Shaham, one of Israel’s largest investment bodies, managed NIS 171 billion in assets at the end of January.
The fund’s market value, which it trades over the counter, is currently around $34 billion. At the same time, the fund shares have risen by about 60% since the beginning of 2021. In fact, the shares have completed a jump of 495% in the last 12 months.
The purchase of GBTC shares, which provides indirect exposure to Bitcoin, was made by Altshuler Shaham when the price of Bitcoin was around $21,000. About two months later, in early February, the value of Bitcoin crossed the $40,000 mark and continued to soar. Thus the investment house decided to sell about a third of its holding in GBTC at a significant profit.
Notably, there has been increasing institutional interest in Bitcoin internationally. For example, the Chinese tech company Meitu invested $40 million into Ethereum and Bitcoin. This makes Meitu the first Hong Kong-listed company to invest in crypto.
This article first published on coinquora.com