Grayscale Investments, LLC, a digital asset manager, has recently purchased nearly 50% of all the newly mined Ethereum (ETH) in 2020. The company currently holds an equivalent of 1.1% ETH in circulation.

Ten cryptocurrency investment products are being operated by the company, which are focused on the institutional investors. Digital assets worth $2.7 billion are under management of the company as of 24th April. The Ethereum Trust accounts for the total investments of $234.7 million, while the Bitcoin Trust holds over $2.3 billion. Other funds cover XRP, zcash, and BCH, among others.

Sources familiar with the matter have stated that the company has purchased 756,539 Ethereum, which is 48.4% of all coins that have been extracted since the beginning of 2020. Over 1,563,245 ether, in total, have also been mined during this period.

The company has been extensively stockpiling ETH, where the inflows of ETH reached an all-time high during the Q1 of 2020. The inflows of ETH Trust have reached $110 million in this quarter, as compared to the combined inflows for the last 2 years of $95.8 million. Institutional investors can gain access to the Ethereum by using the Grayscale ETH Trust, without the need to own any coin. This implies that the company will have to hold large amount of ether in its existing portfolio.

The planned upcoming Ethereum 2.0 might be leading the investors to hold positions in ETH. New coins will be rewarded to validators who are holding at least 32 ETH under the system upgrade. The Ethereum price has increased sharply since the 12th March crash, which is driven by the imminent switch of the network from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, or Ethereum 2.0.

Ethereum has increased by around 40% in the past 30 days and around 8% in the last week. The 2nd-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was reportedly down by 0.93%, which is $193.20 over the last 24 hours.

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https://news.bitcoin.com/grayscale-buys-50-of-all-ethereum-mined/