Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group has begun to sell shares in several of its most prized cryptocurrency funds at a steep discount, as it seeks to raise capital to pay back creditors of its bankrupt lending arm.
SoftBank-backed DCG has started to offload its holdings in several investment vehicles run by its subsidiary Grayscale, according to US securities filings seen by the Financial Times.
The move to sell down the assets underscores the financial difficulties at DCG as it tries to raise funds to support its collapsed lending units under crypto broker Genesis, while seeking to preserve its most cash-generative business.
Connecticut-based DCG, founded in 2015 by former banker Barry Silbert, is one of the largest and oldest investors in crypto coins and businesses. It is backed by investors including SoftBank, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and Alphabet’s venture arm CapitalG.
Grayscale, DCG’s asset management business, is a key asset: it earns hundreds of millions of dollars per year in lucrative fees for managing large pools of bitcoin, ether and other…