If you had held GBTC since its inception in 2015 instead of Bitcoin, you would have lost approximately 63% of the upside gains that #Bitcoin had during that period. This is in large part because of the high expense ratio that Grayscale charges #GBTC investors (2% per year).

This is why we shouldn't get too excited about Bitcoin spot ETFs -- if the expense ratios are high, investing in Bitcoin will mostly enrich the financial institutions offering the ETF. This is more true for Bitcoin than for stock market or bond ETFs because Bitcoin does not pay a dividend that could offset the expense ratio.

While the SEC may approve Bitcoin spot ETFs, it could also impose heavy regulatory compliance measures that increase administrative costs and drive up expense ratios. This in turn could diminish the effect of investing in a Bitcoin spot ETF over the long term.