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Organization | 12 Months Ended
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Dec. 31, 2023
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] |
Organization | 1. Organization Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) (the “Trust”) is a Delaware Statutory Trust that was formed on September 13, 2013 and commenced operations on September 25, 2013. In general, the Trust holds Bitcoin (“BTC”) and, from time to time, issues common units of fractional undivided beneficial interest (“Shares”) (in minimum baskets of 100 Shares as of December 31, 2023, referred to as “Baskets”) in exchange for Bitcoin. As of December 31, 2023, the redemption of Shares was not contemplated and the Trust did not operate a redemption program. The Trust had not sought such relief as of December 31, 2023. On January 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) approved an application under Rule 19b-4 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) by NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) to list the Shares of the Trust, which began trading on NYSE Arca on January 11, 2024. As of the date of this Annual Report, the Trust is an SEC reporting company with its Shares registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. In addition, on January 9, 2024, the Sponsor and Delaware Trust Company, the trustee of the Trust, entered into the Sixth Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement, dated as of January 9, 2024. The following notes to the financial statements have been prepared as of December 31, 2023. Please refer to the subsequent events discussed in Note 11 for changes to the Trust Agreement and for updates to the Trust and service providers effective January 11, 2024, upon the commencement of trading the Shares of the Trust on NYSE Arca. The Trust’s investment objective is for the value of the Shares (based on Bitcoin per Share) to reflect the value of Bitcoin held by the Trust, less the Trust’s expenses and other liabilities. As of December 31, 2023, the Trust may also receive Incidental Rights and/or IR Virtual Currency as a result of the Trust’s investment in Bitcoin, in accordance with the terms of the Trust Agreement. The Sponsor has since committed to cause the Trust not to take any Affirmative Action to acquire any Incidental Rights or IR Virtual Currency, thereby irrevocably abandoning any Incidental Rights and IR Virtual Currency to which the Trust may become entitled in the future. See Note 11. Subsequent Events, for more information. Incidental Rights are rights to claim, or otherwise establish dominion and control over, any virtual currency or other asset or right, which rights are incident to the Trust’s ownership of Bitcoin and arise without any action of the Trust, or of the Sponsor or Trustee on behalf of the Trust; IR Virtual Currency is any virtual currency tokens, or other asset or right, received by the Trust through the exercise (subject to the applicable provisions of the Trust Agreement) of any Incidental Right. Grayscale Investments, LLC (“Grayscale” or the “Sponsor”) acts as the Sponsor of the Trust and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, Inc. (“DCG”). The Sponsor is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the Trust pursuant to the provisions of the Trust Agreement. Grayscale is responsible for preparing and providing annual and quarterly reports on behalf of the Trust to investors and is also responsible for selecting and monitoring the Trust’s service providers. As partial consideration for the Sponsor’s services, the Trust pays Grayscale a Sponsor’s Fee as discussed in Note 6. The Sponsor also acts as the sponsor and manager of other investment products including Grayscale Basic Attention Token Trust (BAT) (OTCQB: GBAT), Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCH) (OTCQX: BCHG), Grayscale Chainlink Trust (LINK) (OTCQB: GLNK), Grayscale Decentraland Trust (MANA) (OTCQX: MANA), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH) (OTCQX: ETHE), Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETC) (OTCQX: ETCG), Grayscale Filecoin Trust (FIL) (OTCQB: FILG), Grayscale Horizen Trust (ZEN) (OTCQX: HZEN), Grayscale Litecoin Trust (LTC) (OTCQX: LTCN), Grayscale Livepeer Trust (LPT) (OTCQB: GLIV), Grayscale Solana Trust (SOL) (OTCQB: GSOL), Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust (XLM) (OTCQX: GXLM), Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZEC) (OTCQX: ZCSH), Grayscale Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Fund LLC (OTCQB: DEFG), Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund LLC (OTCQX: GDLC), and Grayscale Smart Contract Platform Ex Ethereum (ETH) Fund LLC, each of which is an affiliate of the Trust. The following investment products sponsored or managed by the Sponsor are SEC reporting companies with their shares registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act: Grayscale Bitcoin Cash Trust (BCH), Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH), Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETC), Grayscale Horizen Trust (ZEN), Grayscale Litecoin Trust (LTC), Grayscale Stellar Lumens Trust (XLM), Grayscale Zcash Trust (ZEC), and Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund LLC. Grayscale Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor and an affiliate of the Sponsor, is the advisor to the Grayscale Future of Finance (NYSE: GFOF) product. Authorized Participants of the Trust are the only entities who may place orders to create or, if permitted, redeem Baskets. As of December 31, 2023, Grayscale Securities, LLC (“Grayscale Securities” or, in such capacity, an “Authorized Participant”), a registered broker-dealer and wholly owned subsidiary of the Sponsor, is the only Authorized Participant, and is party to a participant agreement with the Sponsor and the Trust. Additional Authorized Participants may be added at any time, subject to the discretion of the Sponsor. Liquidity Providers may be engaged from time to time and at any time. Genesis Global Trading, Inc. (“Genesis”), a wholly owned subsidiary of DCG, served as a Liquidity Provider from October 3, 2022 to September 12, 2023. The Trust has since engaged other Liquidity Providers who are unaffiliated with the Trust. The Trust has also since engaged other Authorized Participants. See Note. 11 Subsequent Events, for more information. The custodian of the Trust is Coinbase Custody Trust Company, LLC (the “Custodian”), a third-party service provider. The Custodian is responsible for safeguarding the Bitcoin held by the Trust, and holding the private key(s) that provide access to the Trust’s digital wallets and vaults. The transfer agent for the Trust (the “Transfer Agent”) is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. The responsibilities of the Transfer Agent are to maintain creations, redemptions, transfers, and distributions of the Trust’s Shares which are primarily held in book-entry form. The administrator for the Trust (the “Administrator”) is BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, a division of The Bank of New York Mellon. BNY Mellon Asset Servicing provides administration and accounting services to the Trust. The Administrator’s fees are paid on behalf of the Trust by the Sponsor. On March 25, 2015, the Trust received notice that its Shares were qualified for public trading on the OTCQX U.S. Marketplace of the OTC Markets Group Inc. (“OTCQX”). As of December 31, 2023, the Trust’s trading symbol on OTCQX was “GBTC” and the CUSIP number for its Shares was 389637109.

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