Grayscale Bitcoin Trust's shares jump after first inflow since January

(Reuters) -Shares of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust jumped 2.4% on Monday after the exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks the price of bitcoin saw its first day of inflow since January.

The move marks a major milestone for GBTC, which has seen $17.46 billion in withdrawals since it converted from a trust to an easily tradable ETF in January, due to the higher fees it charges compared with rivals.

Some of the outflows were also tied to the wave of bankruptcies in the crypto industry, as companies that collapsed in the last two years pulled money out of the fund to repay their creditors.

GBTC saw inflows of $63 million on Friday, according to investment management firm Farside Investors. It currently manages $18.08 billion in assets, according to its website.

However, its position as the biggest spot bitcoin ETF by assets under management (AUM) has come under threat from BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, which manages $16.91 billion, according to its website.

Grayscale said in March that it would seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to spin off a portion of GBTC's assets into a new, lower-fee Bitcoin Mini Trust. The company is yet to decide on the fees for the Mini Trust.

Spot bitcoin ETFs, which were approved by the SEC in January following a decade of rejection, provide investors with bitcoin exposure without the need to directly hold the cryptocurrency.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)