Digital assets management firm Grayscale said it's temporarily halted inflows to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). It wasn't immediately clear why the firm has done so.

Separately, Digital Capital Group, the parent of Grayscale as well as this news service, announced earlier today that it would buy up to $250 million in GBTC shares. Repurchasing shares is a common tool used by companies seeking to increase the price of those shares by simultaneously creating demand while decreasing the number of shares outstanding. Rocked by the number of alternative bitcoin trusts and Canadian bitcoin exchange-traded funds, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has been trading below the price of bitcoin for several weeks. Its sibling, Grayscale Ethereum Trust, has also flipped into negative territory. Grayscale is owned by Digital Currency Group, the parent company of CoinDesk.

Yesterday, CoinDesk revealed Grayscale is hiring nine specialists in the ETF space, possibly signaling a pivot in its fund’s business model.CORRECTED (March 11, 18:40 UTC): Corrects to remove implication that decline in GBTC is related to the halting of new investments.)