Genesis requests sale of ETF shares worth billions

A wave of selling of the Bitcoin fund Grayscales, GBTC, caused price declines back in January. More could now follow.

Bankrupt crypto lending service Genesis has filed for asset sale in a US bankruptcy court. This is according to court documents of Feb. 2.

According to the documents, Genesis wants shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF (GBTC) totaling $1.4 billion as soon as possible. The company also has shares in the Ethereum fund ETHE worth more than $200 million. These are also earmarked for sale.

The urgency of the liquidations was also emphasized in the court documents. The goal is to make as much money as possible available to creditors. To achieve this, the sale must take place before price fluctuations occur.

If the sale is allowed, it could have a negative effect on the Bitcoin price.

In recent weeks, a massive outflow from Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF caused the price of the leading cryptocurrency to dip below $40,000.

It was later revealed that insolvent crypto exchange FTX was largely responsible for the outflow. The trustees of FTX had sold GBTC shares worth a billion dollars.