Peter Schiff Predicts Bleak Future for Grayscale Investments

Peter Schiff has always made his disdain for cryptocurrencies clear. Right or wrong, he has stuck behind every prediction made thus far. However, a recent prediction took things further as the gold bug continues his attacking streak on crypto companies.

Ethereum Losses Will Spill Over

This week, Schiff took a swipe at Grayscale Investments, the industry’s top asset management firm, over the latter’s inability to grow its Ethereum-based assets under management. In a tweet from yesterday, Schiff explained that Grayscale had launched a massive TV ad blitz to try garnering investments for its Ethereum Trust, all to no avail. 

“The Grayscale Ethereum Trust just hit its lowest price since March and is down over 80% since its June high. This is likely a leading indicator for the more popular #Bitcoin Trust that was featured in the same campaign,” Schiff noted. 

Grayscale’s TV ad blitz was one of the company’s highlights for the year. Per reports, the company launched ad slots on FOX, CNBC, MSNBC, FOX Business, and others. On its blog, Grayscale pitched the ad — which is titled “The History of Money — by saying: 

“A wakeup call that people everywhere should seize what we feel is a once in a generation opportunity that digital currencies may present.”

Grayscale Still on the Uptrend For Now

The ad blitz helped Grayscale significantly. Barry Silbert, the company’s chief executive, confirmed in a tweet that it had enjoyed its best week ever, netting $217 million in the days following the campaign.

As expected, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Fund was the biggest gainer. The fund added 14,422.01411512 BTC to its asset under management, marking a capital haul of $167,932,466 at the time, per a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As for the Ethereum Trust Fund, however, things aren’t doing so great. Grayscale’s Ethereum holdings have taken a nosedive over the past few months, dropping over 78 percent from June. At the time, investors were riding high on Ether, which itself was surging thanks to the boom in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.

However, Ether has returned to land and is currently being marked down by the day. Grayscale’s collapse also coincided with its decision to make its shares available on the secondary over-the-counter (OTC) market.

The asset management firm is currently holding about $5 billion in assets, of which about $4.4 billion is in Bitcoin. So, while the fact that its Ethereum Trust Fund might be cratering, it’s not much of a surprise since Ether has never entirely been Grayscale’s top priority.

It’s also worth noting that Grayscale’s holdings are still healthy generally. However, Schiff believes that it’s only a matter of time before all these gains are wiped. 

This won’t be the first time that Schiff will be wrong about Bitcoin predictions. The Gold enthusiast has always predicted losses for the top cryptocurrency, and even he had to admit being wrong about a forecast recently. If this Grayscale doom prediction turns out to be false again, hardly will anyone be surprised.