Everyworld (EVERY) revolutionizes advertising with its blockchain-based platform, offering crypto rewards for watching ads while playing games, all the while supporting environmental causes.

Annoyed by online ads? You’re not alone, as most internet and mobile app users don't favorably view the myriad ads they’re bombarded with every time they visit a website or log in to their app. The resentment toward advertising is easily understandable, since there's nothing in it for the user — other than lost time and disruption to their activities in the virtual world.

Everyworld (EVERY) is a blockchain-based advertising platform that pays users crypto rewards for ads they watch while playing a game, radically changing how the advertising industry works. Besides vastly increasing the acceptance of the ads via incentivized viewing, Everyworld also contributes to green initiatives by donating a proportion of its revenues to environmental conservation organizations.

 (EVERY) is an advertising platform whose users can earn crypto rewards simply by watching ads.

 The project hosts its environmentally-themed game on Discord. Advertisers from various industries pay to run ads within the Everyworld game system, benefiting from the much greater acceptance of their promoted content under the incentivized viewing model.

The platform's Discord-based gaming environment boasts over 250,000 users, who, as of April 2024, have watched more than 50 million ads, earning crypto rewards in the process.

While Everyworld's game is based on Discord, the protocol's crypto operations, related to activities such as incentive payouts and payments by advertisers, are powered by the Ethereum-linked 

The Everyworld platform was developed by the New York-based 

 gaming developer Everyrealm. The company was founded in 2021 by a group of technology entrepreneurs — Janine Yorio, Jesse Stein, Julia Schwartz, Kostas Ketikidis and TJ Kawamura.

Users can play Everyworld’s game via its 

, and will soon be able to use a mobile app version as well. As you play the game, you’re served video ads and can earn the platform's native crypto, EVERY, for watching the promoted content. The more advertising you watch, the more EVERY rewards you earn.

Businesses placing ads on the platform pay the cost of advertising using EVERY tokens. These businesses can significantly benefit from the incentivized advertising mode, since according to Everyworld it increases the likelihood of an in-app purchase by six times as compared to traditional advertising models.

EVERY tokens paid for watching ads aren't the only incentives offered on Everyworld. The platform features a dual-incentive mechanism whereby users can also earn EVERY for participating in quests posted on Everyworld's social media pages.

For every reward issued to users, the Everyworld project has pledged to donate an equal amount to environmental causes. The charitable giving pledge is currently used to support four sustainability-focused organizations — The Ocean Cleanup, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Nature Conservancy and Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina.

Everyworld's native token, EVERY, is a utility asset designed for the platform's payment and reward mechanisms. Advertisers pay for ad placement in EVERY tokens, and users earn rewards in EVERY for watching ads and winning quests. 

Holders of the token can also enter drawings regularly held on the platform without needing to qualify for them via on-platform activity.

The EVERY token, launched on Apr 7, 2024, is a 

 asset, with a total and maximum supply of 10 billion. Its supply allocation shares are shown in the chart below.

With 3% of the total supply allocated to community airdrops, the project has announced its first 

 campaign, which kicked off on Apr 15, 2024. 

To qualify for the airdrop, you need to satisfy the following conditions:

Where to Buy the Everyworld Token (EVERY)

You can buy the EVERY token on Bybit as a 

. Additionally, until Apr 26, 2024, 10AM UTC, you can benefit from 

, a large-scale campaign with a whopping 140 million EVERY (around $6 million as of Apr 16, 2024) on offer.

The EVERY token has been on the market since Apr 7, 2024, and is trading at around $0.0425, which is 45% lower than its ATH of $0.07688, registered on the token's launch day (Apr 7, 2024) and 40.2% higher than its ATL of $0.03015, recorded on Apr 13, 2024.

Long-term price forecasts for EVERY are primarily bullish, with PricePrediction 

 to trade at $0.0826 in 2025 and $0.5451 in 2030, and DigitalCoinPrice 

 of $0.011 in 2025 and $0.32 in 2030, respectively.

Traditional advertising is slowly dying, with target audiences fed up with the avalanche of ads they’re hit with online, and advertisers seeing their conversion rates decline year after year. The incentivized, watch-to-earn model championed by Everyworld might soon become the norm in the industry. All the evidence points to this model being vastly superior to traditional ads in terms of target audience engagement, conversion rates and user satisfaction.

Everyworld might not be the only player in the 

 universe that has adopted the watch-to-earn model, but it’s undoubtedly one of the top gaming-focused crypto projects in this niche. In addition, the environmental initiatives supported by the platform are also among its distinct features. With all these unique points of distinction, Everyworld has the chance to soon become a leading web3 incentivized ads provider. 

Watching video content and getting paid for it — very few gamers would object to that!

Beginner

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Everyworld (EVERY): Watch, Earn and Conserve With Web3 Advertising

Apeiron (APRS) pioneers a god game experience in blockchain gaming, offering moral choices and diverse gameplay modes within its tri-token ecosystem.

The gaming world is highly versatile, with many genres to choose from, such as shooter games, adventure, simulation, puzzles, survival, action and many others. However, one genre that hasn't been explored widely in the crypto space is the “god games” genre, in which players take the role of a god.

 have dominated the traditional gaming space for over thirty years. 

 gaming space, and will be the first god game based on blockchain where players can make moral choices between good and evil in thegodiverse, a virtual gaming world for god games. 

 is the first web3 god game built on blockchain in which players get a chance to become a 

 and play god with the divine power to create/destroy in the godiverse.

This free-to-play game was conceptualized in 2016 by a team of gaming veterans, and successfully fundraised $13 million in its seed round in 2022. As an 

 gives crypto gamers the chance to summon an 

 and use it to maneuver through a chaotic dungeon experience in the game.

 blockchain to leverage its fast and cheap ecosystem, eliminating the entry barriers caused by high gas fees. However, in Q3 2023, the game migrated to Ronin, a 

 blockchain explicitly designed for gaming. 

 has also chosen the Unity game engine as its front-end gaming development partner. Unity’s blockchain-compatible gaming stack gives crypto game developers a competitive advantage over other gaming platforms, such as Unreal Engine.

 combines centralized servers with the decentralized aspect of blockchain to enhance the gaming experience. The centralized servers mainly handle game logic aspects, such as PvP matching and event-hosting on Galactic Arena, while the decentralized blockchain powers the NFT aspect of the game, such as minting NFT assets and token rewards. 

has a triple-token ecosystem consisting of Apeiros (APR), Anima (ANIMA) and Ringularity (RNGU) tokens. 

are known as godlings, living in mysterious parts of the planet called EDENs. A godling is embodied by a Spirit Core that controls an Avatar, which manifests various planetary powers.

The planetary powers wielded by the Avatar are represented by four planet elements: Water, Earth, Air and Fire. The most common and weakest planetary type is the Quad Planet, a combination of all elements, while Pure Planets contain only one element, and are the rarest and strongest type.

A godling is ushered into the game as a newborn divine entity who takes control of a planet filled with subjects called the Doods, cute and cuddly tiny creatures that worship the godling for provision and a better life.

A godling can be a force for good, helping the Doods by enhancing their quality of life and advancing their civilization, and in turn receiving worship from them.

Alternatively, the godling player can decide to be a force for evil and terrorize the Doods with elemental disasters, such as fireballs, receiving worship through fear. A healthy population of Doods is beneficial to the growth of the planet and the Avatar powers.

A godling can use their Avatar to take part as a fighter against the forces of Chaos in the Dirac Dimension. Here, the Avatars can explore dungeons and collect Apostles, Doods found in dungeons that are inspired to join the Avatar in its battles. These Apostles accompany the Avatar into battles of god vs. god that occur in the Galactic Arena.

As a godling, you can perform Miracles in response to your Doods' prayers, offering blessings, punishments or even large-scale Planetary Miracles. Depending upon the types of Miracles you cast, your planet alignment will shift between good and evil.

Under the god simulation, you can also breed planets to create a third planet if you have more than two planets. This process is called Celestial Conjunction. The goal of planetary breeding is to produce a Pure Planet with one element, such as Fire. Such planets give special powers to the Avatar.

If you feel that the development of your planet is unsatisfactory at the height of its civilization, you can trigger an Armageddon event to destroy the planet, thereby ushering it into a superior planetary cycle by starting over.

Some of the benefits a godling can collect from triggering an Armageddon event include Soul Gems, in-game ANIMA tokens for the new cycle, gaining a more impressive planet and deeper access into the Dirac Dimension’s dungeons.

PvE game mode occurs in the endless Dirac Dungeons Dimension. It allows players to fight and recruit or rescue Dood Apostles, who can either be used as sidekicks in galactic battles or converted into Relic NFTs. You earn Apostles and ANIMA by completing dungeon exploration with layouts that change every time you enter.

PvP battle mode occurs in the Galactic Arena, where players fight each other in galactic tournaments for the first position in the monthly leadership position and earn in-game tokens (ANIMA and APRS).

Players work together to progress the living story of the Apeiron godiverse galaxies. The guild vs. guild alliance features Avatar and Raid Boss battles that unlock new content on a seasonal basis.

 features four core NFT assets: Planet NFTs, Stars, Apostles and Relics.

Planet NFTs are essential and valuable assets that enable players to create customized gaming experiences, and possess two aspects: the planet itself and the Avatar. Different planets have different elemental distributions of Earth, Air, Fire and Water that determine the superiority of the skills the Avatar will possess. Pure planets make more superior Avatars in terms of skills, while Primeval Planets are generated through presale. Having a Primeval Planet gives you various perks, such as cheaper planet breeding and early access to the latest game builds.

Star NFTs help accelerate the aging of your planet. The older a planet gets, the more powerful it becomes, as older planets contain more Relic slots. Each star NFT contains a number of Orbital Tracks that serve as homes for the aging planets. Owners of Star NFTs can either use Orbital Tracks to hold their own planets or rent extra space to other planet owners. Star NFTs are suitable for more competitive and committed players, allowing them to take part in Alliance and Guild game modes.

There are 12 heroic Apostle classes, including Hunters, Warriors and Priests, that play sidekick to the Avatar during the PvE, PvP and Guild vs. Alliance game modes.

While exploring a dungeon, players can easily find the Dood Apostles in the in-battle treasure chests or shops. Each Apostle possesses three skills and individual values (IV) representing its battle stats.

Godlings can convert their Apostles obtained in the dungeons into Relic NFTs using the APRS governance token, allowing them to trade the NFT on the marketplace or use it in another planetary cycle after an Armageddon event.

Relic NFTs are obtained after the Armageddon event, which resets the planet in a much purer state. Once the event is over, the player can convert all gameplay objects from the previous cycle that would otherwise be lost permanently between cycles. Objects include Apostles, equipment, cosmetics and even rare Planetary Wonders.

Converting these objects into Relic NFTs is done via APRS tokens. Once that’s done, the player can insert the Relic NFTs into the renewed planet’s Relic slot, which gives players a great head start on the new planetary cycle. Alternatively, players can sell their Relic NFTs to other players on the Apeiron NFT marketplace.

There are two unique aspects of Apeiron's tokenomics. First, its game economy is powered by three tokens. Secondly, its two core tokens, Apeiros and Anima, have in-game versions.

. It allows players to stake, take part in governance through a 

 (DAO) and earn a yield of up to 150% APR. Its in-game currency version is Aperium. Additionally, participation in DAO governance is optional. New players can join the ongoing 

 on Bybit and become one of the lucky winners in this large free APRS giveaway.

:Anima (ANIMA) is a play-to-earn incentive token with various utilities, such as a revival chance in the dungeon. Its in-game version, Animus, is non-tradeable but can be used as a discount currency for ANIMA to reward players in all aspects of gameplay.

: A unique multiplayer token that allows players to access exclusive sales for limited in-game items on the Apeiron marketplace.

s status as the first god game on blockchain puts the team in a pioneering position to establish

 as the standard of excellence for the godiverse blockchain gaming industry in the future. The intriguing gameplay storyline, the team’s dedication, investor trust, and the fact that 

draws inspiration from a list of similar successful gaming enterprises in the industry are likely to positively influence its chances for success.

Additionally, the team is keen on adding value to players' gaming experience, such as through interoperability in the larger metaverse, asset ownership and enhanced gameplay environment.

also aims to integrate AI into its gameplay mechanics and production in order to capitalize on recent advancements in AI technology, which are expected to disrupt various industries, including web3 and NFT games.

The power of AI will bring an enhanced level of interaction to Doods and Apostles for both in-game and on-chain functionality. In addition, the 

 team will train their own AI models to utilize their intellectual property assets to create artwork for gameplay and enable crossover assets for an interoperable metaverse environment.

 constantly strives for improvement with each season release. There are three seasons available so far, andthe entire game is scheduled to go live in 2024. 

Season 1 of the game was its debut as a minimally viable product, providing an early preview of what to expect from 

's PvE game mode in the future. Season 2 of

, featured an expanded Battle Demo of the PvE. This season also allowed players to mint their own Apostle NFTs.

’s transition from demo to beta mode. It enables players to enjoy the PvE dungeon exploration, customize their godling adventures, try out new PvP Galactic Arenas and join Alliances. It also marked the start of players being able to mint their own Planet NFTs.

That said, this isn't financial advice, and we highly recommend that you 

 is boldly paving the way for a new era of futuristic gaming with blockchain and artificial intelligence. Its tri-token system creates a dynamic ecosystem that encourages players to actively participate in governance, gameplay and community collaboration, while offering incentives and rewards tailored to each aspect of the game.

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Apeiron (APRS): A God Game to Dominate Boundless Realms

Eesee (ESE) offers a gamified NFT marketplace with a lottery system, allowing buyers to purchase assets at a fraction of their market price while sellers can fetch higher prices than other platforms.

How can a marketplace solve the millennia-old dilemma of sellers trying to get the maximum price for their products and buyers wanting to pay as little as possible? That's an impossibility, you might argue, and you'd be correct most of the time. However, one NFT marketplace, eesee (ESE), has managed to do just that. 

The eesee project offers a gamified crypto assets marketplace where NFT sellers can create "raffle drops" — lottery-like product listings — and potential buyers can purchase tickets for a chance to win the listed 

, paying only a fraction of the item's actual market price. Market sellers benefit, too, as NFT creators and traders can often sell their assets for a much higher price than their items would fetch on other marketplaces.

 (ESE) is a gamified digital asset marketplace that uses a lottery system to help sellers sell quickly and get higher prices for their assets, while allowing buyers to purchase assets for fractions of their real market prices. 

As of mid-April 2024, eesee specializes in digital asset trading for NFTs. In the future, the project team plans to introduce other digital assets, such as fungible cryptocurrencies and real-world assets (

). NFTs listed on the platform span genres as diverse as art, gaming, music and sports.

Eesee was founded in 2022 by technology entrepreneur Vova Sadkov and is based in Dubai, UAE. It operates as a decentralized app (

 (ETH) and the Ethereum-linked Layer 2 network 

Sellers on the eesee platform create lots to sell their digital items via a gamified lottery system. Buyers willing to enter the raffle for the NFT buy tickets for a chance to win the item. Typically, the ticket cost represents only a fraction of the NFT's actual market value. The ticket's marginal cost attracts more buyers to join the raffle, thereby allowing sellers to sell their NFTs quicker, and at prices they'd be unlikely to get elsewhere.

The hopeful buyers who lose during the lottery are still entitled to a share of the trading volume from the platform's operations. Once the users reach a specific trading volume, bonuses are unlocked that include ESE tokens and other digital assets.

NFT sellers can either bring in their assets held outside of the eesee platform or mint new ones specifically for listing on the marketplace. For any lot/NFT lottery, the seller can assign their preferred fixed price and the number of tickets by which to divide the listing price. Anyone willing to enter the lottery buys a ticket for a chance to win the item.

Each ticket has an equal probability of winning. The eesee marketplace uses a transparent randomizer system to decide each lottery winner. Eesee's randomizer is sourced via 

 (LINK), the industry's leading oracle services provider. Chainlink is a popular and trusted choice for many crypto projects looking to maintain the highest level of transparency in their operations.

To further maintain the fairness of the lottery system, no potential buyer is allowed to purchase more than 20% of the tickets allocated to the lot.

When the item is sold, eesee retains 6% of the sale amount as a commission to fund its reward pool for monthly cashbacks. The pool is a crucial element of the platform's operations, used to distribute trading volume allocations and rewards to all of the platform’s users, including buyers who miss out on the chance to win in the lotteries. A user's platform activity is the primary determinant of the amounts they can earn from the pool: the more lifetime activity they accumulate, the more monthly cashback they’ll earn.

ESE is the platform's native crypto, envisioned to have both governance and utility functions. Members of the platform's 

 (i.e., users eligible for trading volume distributions from the rewards pool) can vote on important aspects of eesee's operations and protocol rules. In order to be eligible for voting, a DAO member needs to hold at least 10,000 ESE in their wallet.

As a utility token, ESE is used for all transactions on the platform — item sales, ticket purchases, trading volume allocations from the rewards pool, commission payments and any other transaction activity.

ESE was launched on Apr 12, 2024. The token's maximum supply is 1 billion, and its total supply is around 427 million. Supply allocation shares for the ESE token are per the table below.

 on Bybit's Spot market. In addition, until Apr 24, 2024, you can take part in Bybit's 

 for a chance to win a share of the 100,000 USDT price pool.

As of Apr 15, 2024, ESE is in its fourth day on the market, trading at $0.1218. Long-term price forecasts for the newly launched token are largely bullish. PricePrediction 

 $0.2686 in 2025 and $1.43 in 2030, while DigitalCoinPrice 

Eesee presents a unique marketplace. Not often do you encounter an NFT platform on which both sellers and buyers can benefit considerably from a rare win-win scenario. Naturally, there’s the issue of those who lose out during the lotteries. Nevertheless, even these users can recoup some or even all of their losses, thanks to the trading volume reward distributions. 

The more often you participate on the platform, the higher the distributions to which you’ll be entitled. Additionally, more active participation spells a higher chance of winning at least some of the items you'd like to add to your personal NFT collection. The more we think of eesee and its gamified system, the fewer losers in the process we can spot!

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Eesee (ESE): Gamified Marketplace for Affordable High-Value Assets

Catcoin (CAT) is a feline-themed meme coin combining community passion with real utility in the crypto space through decentralized governance, NFTs, games, and staking yields.

 have been around the crypto space since 2013, when the earliest meme coin, 

 (DOGE), was created as a lighthearted joke to poke fun at the Bitcoin community at the time. Soon after, more meme coins, such as 

 (FLOKI), cropped up and shot up the ranks by raking in millions of dollars in trading volume.

All of the three blue-chip meme coins mentioned above are themed after a Japanese dog breed. They’ve expanded their use cases from their original fun and speculative narratives to include real utility in their ecosystems. While dogs have continued to be a popular theme for meme coins, other animal-themed meme coins, such as frogs (

So what about cats, so beloved by so many?

Well, cat lovers can now join the meme coin craze via Catcoin, created for feline lovers looking for a meme coin with a dedicated community and built-in real utility.

 (CATS) is a three-fold feline-themed utility meme coin purely driven by its strong community of followers, known as the Catcoin Army.

 Its core values are community empowerment, innovative utility and compassionate giving.

Although categorized as a meme coin, this cat-themed token endeavors to provide a highly functional and secure platform for DeFi services, such as hybrid 

The Catcoin Army consists of a new evolution of dedicated, compassionate and charitable members who aim to make Catcoin Crypto globally successful and to create an enjoyable cat-themed meme coin experience for its supporters.

Unlike many crypto projects today, Catcoin has no presale, team tokens or marketing allocations. However, CATS holders contribute a percentage of their CATS to the marketing budget when buying and selling.

The native token of Catcoin, CATS, has 26,033 total holders, with a maximum supply of 1 quadrillion tokens, a circulating supply of 971.55 trillion and a market cap of $1.28 million.

The project implements a 2% CATS tax on buying and a 10% tax on selling. These taxes are reserved for the project’s aggressive marketing campaigns. Out of the 10% selling tax, 3% goes to reflections and 7% goes to marketing.

Catcoln also implements a token burn mechanism that continuously removes tokens from circulation and, consequently, boosts the value of CATS.

Catcoin was first launched on BNB Smart Chain (BSC) in November 2021 by a group of unknown developers who identify as Miaoshi Nekomoto. The name represents an assumed, fictitious cat belonging to Bitcoin’s undoxxed founder, 

Catcoin quickly rose to fame and became a hot topic of discussion in early 2022 during a bullish cycle in the crypto market. The project now runs on two blockchains, BSC and 

, V1, lacked a marketing wallet and had a meager liquidity ratio, which made it vulnerable to manipulation by 

. Despite these flaws, the project still managed to attract a considerable following, whose members volunteered in different capacities to push the project forward.

Nevertheless, Catcoin V1's poor tokenomics and gaping vulnerabilities made it difficult for the project to advance. Consequently, a core team of developers, graphic designers and marketing experts worked together to upgrade V1 to V2. 

Unlike the original team, the new core team is fully transparent. Through a snapshot and 

, the team successfully migrated the community to its new smart contract in April 2022. Top smart contract security auditors CertiK and SolidProof verified V2 as among the most secure crypto smart contracts around.

The launch of V2 solved several problems in the initial V1 smart contract, as the platform now features a marketing wallet allocation and a higher liquidity pool-to-market ratio. In addition, V1’s reflections mechanism executed well and has been implemented in V2.

Despite its failures, the first Catcoin launch successfully rallied a strong community behind the project, facilitating the upgrade and launch of V2. Some of the milestones accomplished by Catcoin in its V2 era include the following:

Similar to meme coins such as Shiba Inu and Dogecoin that have expanded their ecosystems to include more use cases, Catcoin features the following key products:

As of Apr 12, 2024, the price of CATS was $0.000000001516, which was a 630.5% increase from its ATL of $0.0000000002076 on Feb 14, 2022, and a 97.8% drop from its ATH of $0.00000006832 on Feb 24, 2022.

Price prediction experts are slightly bullish on the price of Catcoin. According to CoinCodex, CATS 

 $0.000000007412 in 2025 and drop to $0.000000006687 by 2030. Another price prediction platform, DigitalCoinPrice, 

 CATS will trade at $0.00000000379 by 2025 and grow to $0.0000000112 by 2030.

That said, these price predictions don't guarantee future CATS prices. We highly recommend that you 

 before investing in Catcoin or any other 

, which enables users to swap tokens seamlessly across multiple chains. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to buy Catcoin on 

Catcoin envisions a future as the Dogecoin of feline-themed meme coins. Additionally, Catcoin’s goal is even broader, aiming to reshape the future of 

 for CATs indicate that Catcoin is potentially a good investment. Crypto influencers such as Amiri King have publicly expressed their enthusiasm for Catcoin. Such support gives the project more exposure and popularity, and testifies to its community’s engagement efforts. With a strong core team and community, a great vision and a proven ability to deliver, Catcoin already looks like a possible success story.

Soon, Catcoin will launch games on its platform and introduce a crypto debit card and mobile app. The team is also open to the careful consideration of bridging to other chains, such as 

However, there are several other factors to consider, as meme coins are prone to fading away once the initial hype is over. Therefore, before investing in a meme coin, it’s important to keep in mind that they’re highly speculative assets, more prone to volatility than 

Catcoin has reached some substantial milestones, cementing its place in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies, especially meme coins. Its army of volunteers takes pride in having salvaged its flawed initial version (V1) into an improved decentralized V2 that will deliver on its vision for DeFi.

Catcoin’s core team is committed to blazing a trail for its feline-themed meme coin by bringing tangible value to its community. The project’s future success will hinge on effective marketing to attract new users, and winning back those who left after the shortcomings of V1.

Intermediate

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Catcoin (CATS): Riding the Meme Coin Wave With Community Passion

Bybit Learn

Investing

Bitcoin

GBTC is the world's largest Bitcoin fund and the first-ever publicly traded trust that has a digital currency as its underlying value.

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Grayscale® Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), an investment trust that’s traded publicly on the stock market, is a great option for individuals, companies and institutions unfamiliar with the crypto market who want to invest in Bitcoin without directly managing it.

But is it a good investment option for everyone else? Are you missing out if you haven’t invested in it yet? Are there drawbacks that might deter some people from buying Grayscale?

In this article, we’ll answer these questions and more.

) is the world's largest Bitcoin fund. It’s also the first-ever publicly traded trust that has a digital currency as its underlying value. If you don’t know what that is, here’s a quick rundown.

Trusts and funds on public stock exchanges have an underlying asset that dictates their value. These assets are mostly stocks in publicly traded companies. The price of the trust or fund fluctuates based on the underlying 

 (NAV), which is affected by the asset’s demand. An investor can buy a portion of the asset by purchasing shares in the fund.

Since GBTC is a cryptocurrency trust, you can 

 through your brokerage account. In doing so, you indirectly buy Bitcoin — avoiding the hassle of purchasing BTC through a 

. This means that you’re relying on Grayscale to buy and hold Bitcoin for you as a third party.

So the actual BTC is stored in the Grayscale institutional trust, and its retail index is traded on either the open or over-the-counter market. GBTC is similar to a crypto exchange-traded fund (

), as it pools investors’ funds to invest in Bitcoin and charges investors a management fee for investing in the fund.

How Does the GBTC Investment Vehicle Compare to a Bitcoin ETF?

, is a competitor of GBTC. That’s because ETFs track the market data or value of the underlying asset much more closely than a trust. Hence, the market price per Bitcoin ETF share is relatively close to the actual value of BTC.

But that’s not the case with shares of GTBC, because the trust charges an annual 

, and sometimes also a premium. That significantly increases the price of a GBTC share as compared to the market price of BTC while spot buying, or while buying shares of a Bitcoin ETF.

Currently, the crypto investment landscape is predominantly occupied by Bitcoin futures ETFs. These financial instruments allow investors to speculate on the future price of Bitcoin, but they don't necessarily offer the most accurate reflection of the asset's real-time market value. In contrast, GBTC has been proactive in seeking regulatory approval to transition into a 

 — a financial product that could revolutionize the way investors interact with Bitcoin.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs are designed to track the actual, real-time price of Bitcoin, providing a more immediate and accurate representation of the cryptocurrency's market value. Unlike 

, which are subject to the complexities of futures contracts and can deviate from the spot price due to factors like 

, spot ETFs aim to offer a one-to-one tracking of the underlying asset. This makes them potentially more reliable and straightforward for both retail and institutional investors.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust gathers money, usually U.S. dollars (USD), from institutional investors and uses that to buy BTC directly. These BTC are stored in the Grayscale fund, which essentially makes the Grayscale institution — rather than its investors — the actual 

. You can then buy shares of GBTC and indirectly own BTC.

Ever since Grayscale became a publicly traded fund in 2015, various investors have poured a lot of cash into GBTC by buying Grayscale stocks during bull 

. Grayscale has used that capital to buy more and more BTC. Now, it’s accumulated over 643,572 bitcoins, which is 

 as of the time of this writing (Aug 31, 2023).

To put that number into perspective, Tesla holds approximately 10,725 BTC.

What Are Premiums and Discounts on GBTC Shares?

When you buy or sell GBTC shares, the trust doesn’t immediately buy or sell BTC with your investment. That’s where the concepts of premium and discount come into play, which are essential to learn about if you want to understand how GBTC works.

Suppose the Grayscale trust has about 500,000 BTC, which are all bought by shareholders. Then five investors come in, and each buys 1,000 BTC worth of GBTC shares.

Those purchases will raise the overall value of the trust by increasing the number of BTC held by GBTC investors as compared to the number of bitcoins owned by Grayscale as an institution. That’s because GBTC doesn’t immediately use the new investment to buy 5,000 more BTC.

This means that there’s a greater demand for GBTC shares than the supply of BTC. In such a case, the trust will add a premium to BTC’s value. Anyone who wants to buy GBTC shares will then have to pay that premium on top of the share value.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC): All You Need to Know

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards