Authored by: ChainCatcher, Nanqin
Following the deadline for submitting the first-quarter 13F reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (May 15), approximately 1,000 institutions collectively held around $11.55 billion worth of Bitcoin spot ETFs.
Institutions vary in their levels of investment in Bitcoin ETFs. Among them, there are 18 institutions holding assets exceeding $100 million, 102 institutions holding assets exceeding $10 million, and 371 institutions holding assets exceeding $1 million. The majority of institutions hold only a small portion of BTC ETF assets compared to their total asset management size.
The 18 institutions holding assets exceeding $100 million are mostly well-known hedge funds and asset management companies such as Millennium Management, Jane Street Group, and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. Similarly, large institutions’ investments in crypto assets represent only a small fraction of their total asset management size.
Furthermore, while 13F filings serve as important indicators in the investment community, institutions holding Bitcoin spot ETFs do not necessarily indicate a bullish sentiment towards Bitcoin. For high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies are simply volatile assets, and most institutions acquire Bitcoin for speculative trading strategies rather than based on any particular belief in Bitcoin’s fundamental value. Does this imply that even after the official approval of BTC spot ETFs in the U.S. in January, the market still lacks long-term holders of Bitcoin?
However, overall, as of the end of the first quarter, the assets under management for spot BTC ETFs exceeded $11 billion, making it the most successful ETF issuance in history. BTC ETFs have elevated Bitcoin to a recognized financial asset, paving the way for professional investors, hedge funds, family offices, and institutions to participate in Bitcoin investments. Institutional interest in BTC ETFs is growing.
About the 13F Filings
The complete name of 13F is SEC Form 13F, a requirement by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for investment institutions or advisors with assets under management exceeding $100 million to submit quarterly reports within 45 days after the end of each quarter. These reports disclose holdings of common stocks (including ETFs), options, American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), convertible bonds, etc., providing detailed information on securities types, stock names and quantities, total market value, etc.
Institutions must submit their 13F filings to the SEC within 45 days after the end of the calendar year quarter, typically before February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 (or the next working day if it falls on a holiday). Most institutions wait until the last minute to submit their reports to keep their investment strategies hidden from competitors. The data from the Q2 13-F filings is worth paying attention to in the crypto market, and ChainCatcher will continue to monitor it.
In this article, based on the 13F filings published on ccn.com, ChainCatcher has compiled a complete list of institutions holding BTC ETFs in descending order of investment amount. Let’s take a look at the top ten institutions holding spot BTC ETFs –
Top Ten Institutions Holding Spot BTC ETFs
1. Millennium Management
Keywords: Hedge Fund
Millennium Management is a global investment firm founded by Israel Englander in 1989. The company is renowned for its multi-strategy hedge funds. As of the first quarter of this year, Millennium had invested around $2 billion in several ETFs, including BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O), Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, and funds launched by Bitwise Investments and ARK Investment Management. With total assets under management of $234 billion in Q1, its crypto investments account for less than one percent.
2. Susquehanna International Group (SIG)
Keywords: Market Maker, Asset Management, Venture Capital Fund
Established in 1987, SIG’s business spans securities investment, trading, financial services, and is best known for pricing and trading financial derivatives (especially stock options). It is also a “designated market maker” for approximately 600 stock options and 45 stock index options on the Chicago Options Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and the International Securities Exchange, responsible for stocks like Google, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, PepsiCo, and Microsoft. SIG Asia holds about 15% of ByteDance shares.
Although SIG invested $1.326 billion in BTC ETFs, this investment is only a small portion of its portfolio, with total assets under management of $576 billion at the end of Q1, with crypto investments accounting for just two tenths of a percent.
3. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management
Keywords: Hedge Fund, Asset Management
Horizon Kinetics, established in May 2011, is a result of the merger between Horizon Asset Management Limited established in 1994, and Kinetics Asset Management Limited established in 1996. As early as 2016, Horizon allocated 1% of its assets to invest in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. By 2020, it held the fifth-largest amount of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust shares and also issued a “Blockchain Development ETF” investing primarily in stocks, ADRs, and GDRs of listed blockchain development companies.
The company’s total assets under management at the end of Q1 were $5.3 billion, with $946 million invested in BTC ETFs accounting for 17.8%.
4. Jane Street Group
Keywords: Hedge Fund, Market Maker
Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider, with several key figures in the crypto industry, including SBF, coming from Jane Street. Despite announcing a reduction in its crypto business following the FTX incident in May of last year, Jane Street has continued to provide market-making services for the crypto industry. Jane Street Capital remains active in crypto investments. Additionally, Jane Street is an authorized trader for Grayscale, Fidelity, and WisdomTree’s Bitcoin spot ETF.
The company’s total assets under management at the end of Q1 were $478 billion, with $634 million invested in BTC ETFs accounting for just one-tenth of a percent.
5. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors
Keywords: Hedge Fund
Schonfeld Strategy Advisors is a New York-based hedge fund established in 2015, with the precursor to Schonfeld Advisory being the family office operated by Mr. Steven Schonfeld. In the first quarter, Schonfeld invested $248 million in IBIT and $231.8 million in FBTC, totaling $479 million.
The company’s total assets under management at the end of Q1 were $15 billion, with $480 million invested in BTC ETFs accounting for 3.2%.
6. Bracebridge Capital
Keywords: Hedge Fund
Bracebridge Capital is a hedge fund based in Boston, established in 1994, managing endowment funds for Yale University and Princeton University.
Bracebridge Capital made significant purchases of Bitcoin spot ETFs this year, including $300 million in Ark 21Shares’ ARKB, $100 million in BlackRock’s IBIT, and $26.52 million in Grayscale GBTC, accounting for 86% of its total assets. The purchase of ARKB accounted for 9.94% of the total outstanding shares, even higher than Ark’s own holding of 6.68%.
7. Boothbay Fund Management
Keywords: Hedge Fund
Boothbay Fund Management is an institutional investment firm located in New York City, established at the end of 2011, operated by renowned fund manager Ari Glass, managing two global multi-strategy multi-manager funds. Since 2013, Boothbay Fund Management has been investing in cryptocurrencies.
Boothbay Fund Management disclosed investments of $377 million in spot BTC ETFs, including $149.8 million in IBIT, $105.5 million in FBTC, $69.5 million in GBTC, and $52.3 million in BITB. Its Q1 assets under management were $5.2 billion.
8. Morgan Stanley
Keywords: Hedge Fund, Asset Management
Morgan Stanley is an international financial services company founded in New York, providing services including securities, asset management, corporate restructuring, and credit cards. As of March 31, Morgan Stanley held nearly $270 million worth of GBTC. Shortly after the approval of BTC spot ETFs in January, it opened up allocations to related ETFs for clients, indicating that the investments are likely on behalf of clients rather than the bank itself betting on Bitcoin.
Its Q1 assets under management were as high as $1.2 trillion, with a tiny proportion allocated to crypto investments.
9. ARK Investment Management
Keywords: Investment Fund, Asset Management
ARK Invest is an asset management company headquartered in New York, founded by “Cathie Wood” in 2014. With holdings of approximately $14 billion in Q1, its largest stock holdings were COIN (Coinbase) and TSLA (Tesla).
In January of this year, 21Shares and ARK Invest officially launched a Bitcoin spot ETF. Shortly after the release of the ETF, Ark Investment sold a $16 million position in the Bitcoin futures ETF – ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF – from one of its ETF products, to purchase 365,427 shares of the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF issued by Ark Investment, expanding the scale. After buying into this ETF, ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF now accounts for approximately 1% of ARKW’s total position.
10. Pine Ridge Advisers
Keywords: Investment Advisor
Pine Ridge Advisers is a U.S. investment advisory firm established in 2014. With current assets under management of $855 million, the company holds $205 million in IBIT, FBTC, and BITB, accounting for 23% of its total management size. Analysts suggest that Pine Ridge Advisers may be engaging in arbitrage trading rather than allocating a quarter of clients’ portfolios to Bitcoin like some other investment advisors.
List of Spot BTC ETF Buyers (Investments exceeding $1 million)
