Investment advisors including prominent figures like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley were significant stakeholders in spot bitcoin ETFs at the close of the second quarter, with their crypto investments totaling $4.7 billion.
Goldman Sachs held $418 million worth of bitcoin on behalf of its clients as of June 30, as noted in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This moderate allocation came despite claims from the chief investment officer of the bank’s wealth management unit in April, who told the Wall Street Journal that the bank’s clients had little interest in cryptocurrencies.
Morgan Stanley – which recently authorized its brokers to offer bitcoin ETFs to clients – reported holding $188 million in these spot funds as of June 30, noting a decrease of $87 million from the prior quarter.
Both financial giants showed a preference for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the biggest among the spot ETFs. However, they also invested in Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF (FBTC) and the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (BTCO), among other products.
“It’s clear that institutional adoption of spot bitcoin ETFs continues to accelerate,” noted Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store. “Generally speaking, institutional investors tend to have extremely rigorous due diligence processes which can lengthen the adoption period for any type of investment. The speed at which institutional investors are wading into spot bitcoin ETFs is astounding.”
A small group of high-profile hedge funds have maintained their investments in the bitcoin ETFs, including Millennium Management led by Izzy Englander, although it reduced its holdings to 26,000 shares from 39,000 shares the previous quarter.
Moreover, Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, which had declared a $12 million investment in BlackRock’s IBIT at the end of the first quarter, had completely divested from it by the reporting deadline of June 30.
Another notable investor, the Wisconsin Pension Fund, reinforced its commitment by purchasing an additional 447,651 shares of IBIT in the last quarter, taking its total to 2,898,051 shares valued at $98.9 million as of the end of June, and simultaneously selling all its stakes in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) which were valued at $63.7 million at the end of March.
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