Osprey Bitcoin Trust, on March 5, announced that it is currently engaged in discussions regarding a potential sale or merger. In the event that these discussions prove unfruitful, the trust will proceed with deregistering and liquidating within a span of 180 days.
Osprey acknowledged that fractional units of its BTC trust were trading at a lower value compared to Bitcoin (BTC). As a result, the company is exploring various alternatives to maximize the value for its unitholders. Interestingly, the announcement alone had a significant impact on the unit price, which experienced a notable increase. After closing at $15.98 on March 4, the unit price rose to $20.68 on March 5, before subsequently declining to $19.17 at the time of writing.
Greg King, the founder and CEO of Osprey, took to the platform X (formerly Twitter) to share the company’s efforts in achieving positive financial outcomes. On January 11, the company filed Form 8-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), notifying the agency about its intent to hold a tender offer for the purchase of 20% of its units at the net asset value, less taxes and fees. In a post on X on February 9, King mentioned that this tender proposal did not receive the desired response from Osprey, without providing further details, and expressed the company’s search for alternative solutions.
Osprey initially emerged as a competitor to the larger Grayscale when it launched its over-the-counter BTC trust in January 2021. The trust offered accredited investors the opportunity to gain exposure to BTC within their brokerage accounts. However, the trust faced significant challenges during the crypto winter, resulting in the majority of its employees being laid off by January 2023.
Furthermore, in January 2023, Osprey filed a lawsuit against Grayscale, alleging that the latter’s false and misleading advertising and promotion tactics were responsible for maintaining a market share of approximately 99.5% in a two-participant market.
Aside from its BTC trust, Osprey also provides over-the-counter trusts for other cryptocurrencies such as Polkadot (DOT) and Solana (SOL), as well as a private placement BNB Chain Trust (BNB).
Magazine: Bitcoin breaks $60K, US gov’t moves seized BTC, and more: Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 25 – March 2.