Grayscale rakes in $217 million after TV ad campaign

Crypto investment firm Grayscale has had a blockbuster week following a new TV advertising campaign. CEO Barry Silbert tweeted on Friday that the firm had taken in $217 million this week: the most it’s ever raised in a single week. 

The blowout comes after Grayscale began broadcasting television ads tracking the evolution of money into the age of digital currency, and just one day after rival crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital published a full page ad in the Financial Times that read: “Now is the time to invest in Bitcoin.”

Grayscale’s success is more proof that the race to capture new crypto investors is on, being pushed into new territory by Grayscale and its competitors. Its ads took spots on TV channels such as CNBC, MSNBC, FOX and FOX business.

Grayscale was founded in 2013 by VC firm Digital Currency Group to help institutional investors get into crypto. It has trusts for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. 

Its biggest driver for growth this year has been Ethereum. The firm bought up as much as half of all Ethereum minted during parts of the first half of the year. In a call with investors last month, Grayscale disclosed that $375.5 million entered its Ethereum fund since it opened in January 2018. But 36% of the inflows took place in the second quarter of 2019. Grayscale also reported overall investment inflows of more than $900 million in the second quarter.

Silbert told investors on the July conference call that he was cautiously optimistic that the US had gone beyond the point of issuing a ban on Bitcoin, citing growing numbers of digital currency supporters in the halls of government in Washington D.C.

The new ad is required watching for crypto enthusiasts eager to ride the adrenaline rush of being in on the next big thing in finance.