GBTC, according the Nov. 9 filing, has authorized an unlimited amount of shares. Fascinating.
As it has been noted recently on the DD board, cryptocurrencies are vulernable to what amounts to cybertheft.
This is the from the filing, and I found it interesting, especially the last couple sentences, which are highlighted in bold.
The security of Bitcoin Exchanges could be compromised leading to the theft of customers’
Bitcoins, declining adoption, and negatively impacting the price of the Shares.
Bitcoin Exchanges have a limited history. Since 2009, several Bitcoin Exchanges have been closed
or experienced disruptions due to fraud, failure, security breaches or distributed denial of service
attacks a/k/a “DDoS Attacks.” In many of these instances, the customers of such exchanges were
not compensated or made whole for the partial or complete losses of their funds held at the
exchanges. In 2014, the largest Bitcoin Exchange at the time, Mt. Gox, filed for bankruptcy in
Japan amid reports the exchange lost up to 850,000 Bitcoin, valued then at over $450 million. In
August 2016 it was reported that almost 120,000 Bitcoins worth around $78 million were stolen
from Bitfinex, another large Bitcoin Exchange. Consequently, the value of Bitcoins decreased over
10% immediately following those reports, and the Shares suffered a corresponding decrease in
value. The potential for instability of Bitcoin Exchanges and the closure or temporary shutdown
of exchanges due to fraud, business failure, hackers, DDoS or malware, or government-mandated
regulation may reduce confidence in Bitcoin, which may result in greater volatility in the Shares.
In addition, the closure or temporary shutdown of a Bitcoin Exchange may adversely affect an
investment in the Shares.
Insurance has become unavailable for our Custodian.
We have been advised that our Custodian did not renew its insurance coverage. If our Custodian
fails to adequately insure the Bitcoins in its custody, this may negatively impact our ability to
operate and an investment in the Shares.
The Nasdaq's third tier, the AMEX can be just as bad, and last but not least, the OTC, it seems, are financial venues that reward failure.
AI
