Altshuler Shaham invests $100m in world's biggest bitcoin fund

• Author: Roy Katsiri
• Published date: 11 March 2021
• Date: 11 March 2021

This is the first time that an Israeli institutional body has purchased an exposure to bitcoin on this scale for its customers. Altshuler Shaham, one of the biggest investment houses in Israel, managed assets worth NIS 171 billion at the end of January 2021, in long-term savings in pension and provident funds.

GBTC tracks bitcoin prices in dollars according to the index published by TradeBlock. The fund is managed by Grayscale Investments, which is one of the largest cryptocurrency investors in the world and part of the Digital Currency Group, led by its founder Barry Zilbert. GBTC, traded over the counter in New York, has a market cap of $34 billion. The fund's share price has risen 495% over the past 12 months including by 60% since the start of 2021. Only serious investors can invest in the fund, which requires a minimum $50,000 investment and takes a 2% annual management fee.

Altshuler: This is a new investment for us

Altshuler Shaham cofounder, co-owner and co-CEO Gilad Althshuler told "Globes" that the investment in GBTC from funds in the investment portfolio of its members was made in the second half of last year. He said that 0.3% of the funds in the portfolios were invested in GBTC.

Buying GBTC shares, which provides indirect exposure to bitcoin, was executed by Altshuler Shaham around the price of $21,000. Two months after that, at the beginning of February, the price of bitcoin...