- More than 500 different financial firms have bought Bitcoin ETF shares since January.
- Fund holders include hedge funds, investment advisors, private equity, and pension funds.
The Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds not only made record inflows â three months in, they have already pulled in investors of all stripes.
More than 500 different entities have disclosed holdings in Bitcoin ETFs, according to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas â more than 200 times the average of two to three holders for new ETFs.
âMind bogglingâ
Bitcoin ETFs have seen tremendous demand since they launched on January 11 â and none so much as BlackRockâs fund.
BlackRockâs IBIT has accrued more than 414 holders, a âmind-bogglingâ number, Balchunas said. âEven having 20 holders as a newborn is [a big deal], highly rare,â Balchunas posted, referring to recently launched ETFs. BlackRockâs fund âblows awayâ previous records, the analyst added.
The fundâs holders are varied, Balchunas noted. They include hedge fund managers, investment advisors, private equity, pension funds, brokerages, banks, trusts, insurance companies, holding companies, and family offices.
Hedge fund managers held almost 69% of the fundâs shares, and investment advisers 22%.
âNormally you donât see this long a list of holder types till years after launch and mega liquidity â which IBIT already has,â Balchunas said.
Global investment-management firm Millennium is the biggest ETF holder so far, with almost $786 million in BlackRockâs ETF, another $750 million into Fidelityâs, $188 million in Grayscaleâs GBTC, and $41 million in both ARK Investâs and Bitwiseâs spot Bitcoin funds.
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But not every holder is buying out of conviction in Bitcoin. Balchunas singled out Pine Ridge Advisers, which owns roughly $205 million in Bitcoin through the various ETFs â about 23% of their total assets under management.
âLikely some kind of arbitrage trade though versus say an [registered investment advisor] putting 1/4 of grandmaâs portfolio in Bitcoin,â Balchunas said.
Crypto market movers
- Bitcoin is up 0.4% in the last 24 hours, trading for $65,100.
- Ethereum slumped 1.3% in the same period, now at $2,940.
What we are reading
Tom Carreras is a markets correspondent at DL News. Got a tip about Bitcoin ETFs? Reach out at tcarreras@dlnews.com