As of the end of the second quarter, investment advisers held more than $4.7 billion worth of U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Investment advisors are the largest holders of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), holding a total of $4.7 billion in bitcoin on behalf of their clients.
Mathew McDermott, global head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, speaks at the Consensus 2024 conference hosted by CoinDesk.
Goldman Sachs holds $418 million worth of Bitcoin, while Morgan Stanley has purchased $188 million of Bitcoin.
Investment advisors to Wall Street giants including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley became among the largest holders of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs at the end of the second quarter as clients increased their total cryptocurrency allocations to $4.7 billion.
According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Goldman Sachs held $418 million worth of Bitcoin on behalf of its clients as of June 30. This relatively modest client allocation came after the chief investment officer of the bank's wealth management division told The Wall Street Journal in April that Goldman's clients had shown little interest in the asset class.
Morgan Stanley reportedly just recently approved its brokers to offer Bitcoin ETFs to clients, and as of June 30, the company held $188 million worth of spot funds, down $87 million from three months earlier.
Both Wall Street giants favor BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), now the largest spot ETF, but they have also bought stakes in Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) and Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), among other products.
"It's clear that institutional adoption of spot bitcoin ETFs continues to accelerate," said Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store. "Generally speaking, institutional investors tend to have very rigorous due diligence processes, which can prolong the adoption cycle for any type of investment. The speed at which institutional investors are getting involved in spot bitcoin ETFs is amazing."
A handful of prominent hedge funds continue to hold stakes in bitcoin ETFs, including Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, though the fund reduced its holding in [fund] to 26,000 shares from 39,000 last quarter, with the value falling from [dollar amount] to [dollar amount].
Notably, Paul Singer’s Elliott Management disclosed a $12 million stake in BlackRock IBIT at the end of the first quarter, but by its latest June 30 reporting date, the firm had completely exited that position.
Another notable holder at the end of the first quarter was the Wisconsin Pension Fund, which doubled down on its position in IBIT last quarter, purchasing an additional 447,651 shares. In addition, the fund also liquidated all of its holdings in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which were worth $63.7 million at the end of March. As of the end of June, the Wisconsin Pension Fund now held 2,898,051 shares of IBIT, worth $98.9 million.
