Fir Tree Comments on Grayscale’s Continued Obfuscation of the Facts and Refusal to Provide Clear Answers to GBTC Shareholders

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fir Tree Partners (“Fir Tree” or “we”), a meaningful shareholder of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (“GBTC”), today issued the below comment regarding GBTC and Grayscale Investments’ (together with GBTC, “Grayscale”) formal answer to Fir Tree’s lawsuit. Last month, Fir Tree filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery seeking information from Grayscale on potential mismanagement of and conflicts of interest at GBTC.

“Grayscale’s answer continues to obfuscate the facts and refuses to provide clear information to GBTC shareholders. Most concerning of all is that Grayscale has once again failed to acknowledge that it has the power to open redemptions and create liquidity for its investors, yet is choosing not to do so. Instead of owning this fact, Grayscale management continues to create the impression that their decision is driven by regulatory concerns, and ignores the reality that they can allow redemptions at any time, provided GBTC is not simultaneously creating and redeeming shares. Grayscale claims that Fir Tree’s stance on redemptions is an ‘oversimplification of the regulatory requirements.’ In our view, the situation is actually extremely simple: Grayscale management is keeping redemptions closed in order to maximize their revenues, and they don’t care that it’s at investors’ expense.

As demonstrated by its denial of virtually every allegation in our complaint, Grayscale’s answer continues its long-term refusal to take responsibility for the issues it created. Grayscale and its affiliates cannot deny the facts forever. Fir Tree Partners remains committed to taking all available actions to ensure that Grayscale is held accountable for these issues and finally begins to act in the best interests of all shareholders.”

About Fir Tree Partners

Fir Tree was founded in 1994 and is a New York based private investment firm that invests worldwide in public and private companies, real estate and sovereign debt. Fir Tree manages assets on behalf of leading endowments, foundations, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. Where shareholder engagement could be value-accretive for its investors, Fir Tree follows a Positive Activism® approach in creating, not just identifying, value.