BlockFi Acquires $379 Million Stake in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust

A fintech firm that specializes in crypto lending disclosed that it has acquired a $379 million stake in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, a sign of rising demand to borrow and arbitrage digital currencies.

BlockFi Inc., based in Jersey City, New Jersey, filed a notice with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission stating that it holds a 5.1% stake in Grayscale Investments LLC’s trust, whose shares are the first securities solely invested in Bitcoin. BlockFi’s stake is comprised of 24.2 million Grayscale shares.

Investor inflows into the Grayscale Trust have accounted for some 70% of the new Bitcoin that ...