Britain's investment bank Barclays has increased its holdings of BlackRock's spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by 48 percent from the previous quarter as of the end of the third quarter.
Cointelegraph, a blockchain media outlet, reported on Nov. 11 that Barclays disclosed it held 3.94 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) as of Sept. 30.
The details were confirmed in a 13F filing submitted by Barclays. The stake was valued at about $187 million, up from 2.66 million shares worth $88.5 million as of June 30, with both the number of shares and the valuation rising.
An expansion of bank investment in spot bitcoin ETFs was also seen at other large financial firms. Citigroup disclosed a new position worth about $119 million in Fidelity's Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (WBTC). Citigroup's IBIT holdings also rose about 50 percent to about 521,000 shares from 347,000 shares at the end of June.
Bitwise's Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan (캄란 코스로비) said the expanded exposure by banks is an early sign that long-term holders are becoming a larger share of the spot bitcoin ETF investor base. He said financial advisers at major banks and wealth-management platforms can now recommend spot bitcoin ETFs to clients.
Early third-quarter filing data compiled by Bitwise showed banks held $258 million worth of spot bitcoin ETFs, accounting for 4.9 percent of total reported holdings. That was up from $107 million, or 3.2 percent, in the previous quarter in both amount and share. The largest holders were investment advisory firms, whose holdings rose to $3.5 billion from $2.2 billion in the previous quarter. Their share of total reported holdings was 66.6 percent.
Holdings of spot bitcoin ETFs among the 1,389 institutions that filed third-quarter reports totaled $5.25 billion, above $3.35 billion in the previous quarter on the same basis. A reporting deadline remains, and major institutions such as JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Millennium and Schonfeld have yet to file.
Some also cautioned against interpreting the rise in valuations as a sign of expanded new buying. Jonathan Landin (조너선 랜딘), an analyst at PrimeXBT, said valuations also reflect the impact of price gains, and that share counts should be reviewed to gauge changes in actual holdings.
Landin added that the filings reflect holdings as of Sept. 30 and do not capture the subsequent decline in bitcoin prices and outflows from spot ETFs. Sosovalue said spot bitcoin ETFs posted net inflows of $6.34 billion in the third quarter, but saw net outflows of about $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter through the 10th.
Diversification was also cited as a driver of institutional demand. In an October survey by CoinShares, 40 percent cited diversification as a reason for holding digital assets, while less than 9 percent cited speculation.
The filings are drawing attention as they show in numbers a trend of banks adding spot bitcoin ETFs to portfolios. However, because the increase in holdings also reflects the impact of rising prices, shifts in actual demand will need to be confirmed in future institutional filings.
