• Addresses linked to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has been identified by Arkham Intelligence.
• Grayscale is the second largest holder of Bitcoin per data from the analytics firm.

In a September 6 X app post, blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence claimed to have identified wallet addresses belonging to the Grayscale Bitcoin (BTC) Trust. 

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Holdings

According to the revelation, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) is the second largest BTC entity globally with a holding of more than $16 billion worth of the premier digital currency. Precisely, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust wallet addresses are carrying 627,779,000 BTC units, per Arkham’s platform.

The Grayscale BTC Trust holdings consist of over 1,750 addresses and each of them holds about 1,000 Bitcoin units each. It is worth noting that Arkham did not provide a full list of wallet addresses for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. However, it does label each Grayscale addresses clearly as part of the transaction history linked to the firm.

Before now, the investment asset management firm had avoided listing the on-chain addresses of the trust, even when reporting its balances publicly. Grayscale has always cited security concerns as the reason behind its decision. Due to this concealment, members of the Bitcoin community have always wondered where Grayscale has its huge BTC holding stashed. 

Some X users went as far as criticizing the firm and accusing Grayscale of not having as much Bitcoin as it claimed to have. It turns out that the volume of BTC which Arkham stated that Grayscale has is similar to that listed in the asset manager’s website. This therefore implies that it has enough Bitcoin to satisfy withdrawals at the moment.

16vd2YfcGK9mw3GZXzL5o23m7gdBGXKHNz, 1GRGfd3TtBA2vMjoHH3hVpE6CRx5nZ1YJp, 15gioFeKnUjerTQ9LYNreW3Bt9kn9xrTU4, 1DtdMtJL2zggkoFPDbEbM2Ja1EYH8LeH9B, and 1CU9gusmCCfCjsmGatxbzvXLqoisgnaV9n are the top five addresses that show up when “Grayscale Bitcoin Trust” is searched for within the Arkham platform. 

The other two wallet addresses do not have any funds but have shown activities of transactions coming from other Grayscale Bitcoin Trust addresses like 1L8k2SD9sdTTzdDxA19QdobLbUyKyV2RVi and 1CS1M4oVbcFnZjZ5hU5bk6vLi2Q5VSsmpX. 

Grayscale Gains Victory Over the SEC 

Grayscale is still caught in a crossfire with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its plan to convert its GBTC to an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). Last week, the crypto asset manager recorded a victory against the SEC after U.S. Court of Appeals Circuit Judge Neomi Rao granted its petition for review.

The court ruled that the SEC’s rejection of the firm’s application to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF was “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the regulator did not provide an adequate explanation as to why it rejected the application of Grayscale to launch a spot Bitcoin ETF. 

This singular action from the judge effectively overturned the SEC’s previous rejection of the GBTC listing application and it also holds great importance in the wait for a spot BTC ETF from the regulator. Already, the victory triggered the price of Bitcoin which soared to near two-week highs at the time.