JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley And UBS Among More Than 600 Firms Invested In Spot Bitcoin ETFs, Filings Show

Updated: 17 May 2024

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Investment banking titans including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and UBS are among 600 firms that have socked billions of dollars into spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds).

That’s according to 13F filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which show that collectively professional investment management firms have allocated around $3.5 billion to spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Millennium Management Emerges As The Largest Spot BTC ETF Investor

Alternative investment firm Millennium Management, with more than $64 billion in assets under management, is the biggest investor in BTC ETFs with $1.9 billion. Its biggest position is in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with $844.2 million.

Millennium also invested in four other spot Bitcoin ETFs: Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), as well as the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) and the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB).

The second largest investor is Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, which is a hedge fund boasting $13 billion in assets under management. Its filing showed that the firm invested $248 million in BlackRock’s IBIT and $231.8 million in Fidelity’s fund.

$IBIT ended up with 414 reported holders in its first 13F season, which is mind boggling, blows away record. Even having 20 holders as a newborn is bfd, highly rare. Here's a look at how the btc ETFs compare to other ETFs launched in Jan (aka the Class of 2024) in this metric. pic.twitter.com/ngicEdbaTq

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) May 16, 2024

Morgan Stanley emerged as one of the biggest holders in GBTC. The investment giant owned $269.9 million worth of shares, according to its filings.

Meanwhile, other financial giants such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, UBS, BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Canada also revealed investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs.

More Capital Could Soon Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs

More capital could soon enter the burgeoning spot Bitcoin ETF market, which experienced a roaring start after 11 funds launched in the US in January.

Sovereign wealth funds, pensions funds and endowments are among those expected to pour funds into these investment products, according to BlackRock. This comes after the fund management titan revealed “having ongoing diligence and research conversations” with a number of these money managers.

Morgan Stanley is reportedly considering expanding the sale of these funds by giving its 15,000 brokers the ability to solicit customer purchases.

Up until now, the Wall Street giant has only sold these investment products on an unsolicited basis. This means that customers must ask for spot Bitcoin ETFs to be included in their investment portfolios.