- Hedge fund Millennium Management disclosed holdings of nearly $2 billion across five different spot Bitcoin ETF products as of Q1 2023.
- Millennium’s largest allocation was in BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund, followed closely by Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF.
- Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise, views the large institutional interest in Bitcoin ETFs as a bullish sign for the cryptocurrency’s future.
Hedge fund Millennium Management has revealed it held nearly $2 billion worth of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) as of the first quarter of this year. This disclosure highlights growing institutional interest in Bitcoin investment products.
Details of Millennium’s Bitcoin ETF Holdings
Millennium held a total of $1.94 billion across five main spot Bitcoin ETFs as of March 31, according to its 13F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The hedge fund diversified its holdings of spot Bitcoin ETF products across ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF (FBTC).
BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund was Millenium’s largest allocation, with over $844 million invested. Fidelity’s fund came in a close second, with just over $806 million worth of FBTC shares held by the hedge fund.
Institutional Interest in Bitcoin ETFs
Describing Millennium as the “king of Bitcoin ETF holders,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted the firm held 200 times the exposure of the average new ETF holders in the top 500.
Additionally, the majority (roughly 60%) of new spot Bitcoin ETF buyers were comprised of investment advisory firms, while around 25% were hedge funds, Blachunas shared.
The recent spate of compulsory 13F filings has shed light on who is buying spot Bitcoin ETFs, something Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan says has made him increasingly bullish on Bitcoin’s future.
In a May 13 memo to investors, Hougan wrote that the quarterly 13F filings have shared important details behind who is actually buying these funds, adding that the outsized scale of institutional interest in these products was a good sign for Bitcoin moving forward.
On May 14, The State of Wisconsin disclosed that it held a total investment amount of $164 million across two funds offered by Grayscale and BlackRock.
