Institutional investors juggle bitcoin ETF holdings, US filings show
FILE PHOTO: The seal of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seen at their headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 12, 2021. Picture taken May 12, 2021. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/ File Photo
(Reuters) -A number of high-profile asset managers cut their stakes in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds amid a 12% drop in the cryptocurrency's price in the first quarter of 2025, according to recent regulatory filings.
This marks a shift from previous quarters when asset managers had typically increased their holdings in spot bitcoin ETFs, as shown in previous quarterly 13-F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Spot bitcoin ETFs, which made their market debut in January 2024, now paint a more complex picture. Hedge funds trimmed their holdings while some financial advisory firms and wealth funds boosted or rebalanced their positions.
"What we witnessed in the first quarter was the collapse of the premium that people were paying for bitcoin futures, which had set up a very lucrative basis trade," said Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise Asset Manager.
Hedge funds seeking to profit from the spread between spot and futures prices could capture annualized yields in the region of 15%, Hougan said.
"But that premium collapsed and reached its nadir around the end of March," he said. "So I'm not surprised to see hedge funds trim their holdings."
Millennium Management LLC cut its holdings of iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF by 41% to 17.6 million shares and exited its position in the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF. It increased its stake in only two ETFs, boosting its holdings of the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF and the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust.
Jersey-based Brevan Howard trimmed its stake in the iShares ETF by 15.6%.
The State of Wisconsin Investment Board, one of the earliest institutional investors to make a significant allocation to spot bitcoin ETFs in the first quarter of 2024, sold its entire six million share position in the iShares Bitcoin Trust in the first three months of this year.
Meanwhile, Brown University made its first foray into cryptocurrency ETF ownership during the same period, acquiring a stake in the same ETF, worth $4.9 million at the end of March.
Neither the state pension fund nor representatives from Brown University responded to requests for comment on their moves.
Abu Dhabi's Mubadala sovereign wealth fund added to its holdings of the iShares ETF in the first quarter, bringing its total position to 8,726,972 shares, valued at $408.5 million.
"What will be most important for me is whether, when all the data is finally in and we can analyze it, more investment advisory firms are stepping in," said Hougan.
"That wave of adoption may be a slow-moving train, but it has forward momentum."
(Reporting by Suzanne McGee; editing by Diane Craft)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malaysian Reserve
5 days ago
- Malaysian Reserve
Trillium Surveyor Reinvents Best Execution Analytics Product, Empowering Traders and Compliance Teams with Performance-Driven Insights
Next-generation solution organizes trade data at scale to accelerate performance analytics, streamline workflows and maximize ROI NEW YORK, June 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Trillium Surveyor, a leading provider of trade surveillance and best execution analytics software, today announced the launch of its next-generation best execution analytics engine, reimagined to turn trade data into a performance edge. The new engine delivers a shared, intuitive interface to help investment firms reduce trading costs and optimize execution performance across asset classes. Purpose-built to bridge the needs of trading desks and compliance teams, Surveyor Best Ex helps firms unlock measurable ROI and supports proactive compliance with evolving regulatory standards, including the SEC's amended rule 605. Legacy systems have long restricted traders to quarterly reports and manual workflows, driving up costs and slowing down performance analysis. Surveyor Best Ex turns complex data into interactive, easy-to-understand reports. It analyzes vast volumes of execution data at scale, flags outliers in price, time and fill, and empowers confident performance optimization. With one click, users can generate actionable insights, eliminating weeks of manual data wrangling to make best execution monitoring a daily, not quarterly, practice—a critical function in volatile markets. 'Traders and compliance officers don't always speak the same language, but now they can work off the same data, in the same place, with the same level of confidence,' said Melissa Watras, Director of Product at Trillium Surveyor. 'This product isn't just another analytics engine, it's a fully interactive, highly visual experience that makes performance and compliance tracking fast, intuitive and impactful.' 'This enhancement goes beyond a simple technology upgrade—it provides trading and compliance leads with the tools and flexibility needed to stay ahead of evolving regulatory demands while optimizing best execution practices,' said Lisa Balter Saacks, President of Trillium Surveyor. 'With Surveyor Best Ex, compliance leaders aren't just checking the compliance box, they're gaining a measurable return on investment. Our enhanced analytics help uncover hidden inefficiencies and make faster, smarter execution decisions, turning regulatory requirements into a performance advantage.' This advancement to Surveyor Best Ex was developed with direct input from best execution committees at firms across the industry to streamline review cycles, reduce manual workflows and offer clear insights that drive smarter, faster execution across both retail and institutional markets. The solution can be deployed as a standalone or seamlessly integrated with Surveyor Trade Surveillance for a comprehensive view of trading performance and compliance. About Trillium Surveyor Trillium Surveyor delivers powerful, intuitive trade surveillance and best execution analytics software. It's designed to help risk and compliance leaders elevate oversight, meet evolving regulatory expectations and drive real performance gains. Used by leading financial institutions worldwide, Surveyor turns complex trade data into actionable insights with advanced manipulation detection and execution analysis. With automation, transparency and speed at its core, Surveyor helps firms transform compliance into a competitive edge. Learn more at Media Contact Forefront Communicationssurveyor@
The Star
13-06-2025
- The Star
Pay to dine with Trump
THE sale of face-to-face access to US President Donald Trump through a cryptocurrency bearing his name has done more than line his pockets. Trump announced last month that top buyers of a meme coin known as $TRUMP would be invited to a private dinner with him at one of his golf resorts. The highest spenders would even score a VIP reception and a tour of the White House. The promotion ignited a frenzy in the crypto world and sparked bipartisan condemnation, all while leaving the sitting president unusually vulnerable to outside influence – including from foreign investors with policy agendas. Since the announcement, crypto speculators around the world have scrambled to scoop up $TRUMP, a novelty token tied to Trump's political brand. Some buyers have said outright that they purchased the coin with hopes of swaying US policy. The result? A surge in the coin's value –at least on paper – that's added billions to a stash controlled by Trump, his family and business allies. The sale of face-to-face access to President Donald Trump using the Trump family's own cryptocurrency has done more than benefit him financially, though it has certainly done that. -- 5.9 x 4.4 -- cat=a According to the crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, they've already made more than US$1.3mil in transaction fees as the coin is traded. Some traders jumped in early, flipping coins for big profits as others raced to buy into 'the most exclusive invitation in the world', as the promotion billed it. But the backlash has been swift. The spectacle helped derail a key piece of cryptocurrency legislation in Congress, with industry leaders and lawmakers – including some Republicans – uneasy about the optics. 'It does give me pause because it complicates our work here,' said Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis. 'The optics are challenging.' The Times found that trading volumes for $TRUMP spiked the day before the contest was publicly announced. That raises the possibility that information leaked, giving some traders a chance to make early bets. Former US securities officials say Trump may be skating close to violations of federal law – not that he's likely to face consequences. His administration has dramatically scaled back crypto enforcement at both the SEC and the Justice Department. 'This absolutely would have triggered an initial investigation,' said John Reed Stark, a former SEC cybercrimes chief. 'Or at least it certainly would have under norms from prior Republican and Democratic eras.' The White House has brushed off the criticism. A senior official described the dinner as 'a private event' taking place during Trump's personal time, while White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president is 'abiding by all conflict-of-interest laws'. Trump began promoting $TRUMP on Jan 17, just days before his inauguration. Like many meme coins, its value is heavily driven by social buzz. The coin's price spiked, then dropped, before Trump repeatedly intervened to keep it afloat – culminating in the dinner contest. A website tied to the promotion outlined the rewards: the top 220 buyers get a spot at the gala dinner, the top 25 gain VIP access to Trump and a White House tour, and the top four receive a Trump-branded timepiece dubbed 'the most beautiful watch ever made'. The leaderboard-style contest, which plays out in real-time on the website, gamifies the auction. Investors can track how much more they need to spend to make the cut before the contest ends. But according to Chainalysis, most buyers are losing money – even as the Trump family profits. Blockchain records suggest many participants are based outside the United States. Buyers flocked to overseas crypto exchanges like Binance and Bybit, which bar US users. With help from data firm Nansen, The Times identified top account holders in Singapore and Australia. One of them, Sydney-based crypto entrepreneur Kain Warwick, confirmed he was aiming to meet Trump in person. Another trader, identified only as 'Sun', is reportedly linked to HTX – an overseas exchange where controversial crypto mogul Justin Sun serves as adviser. Sun was previously sued for fraud by the SEC but has also invested heavily in Trump's crypto ventures. The promotion gives foreign buyers a direct route to Trump, something normally restricted under US campaign finance law, which bars foreign nationals from donating to political candidates. But nothing stops them from buying meme coins. In Mexico, logistics CEO Javier Selgas initially said he would purchase US$20mil worth of $TRUMP in hopes of getting Trump to lower tariffs. After a backlash, the company backed away from those plans. In Singapore, crypto firm MemeCore surged up the leaderboard with a stash valued at US$19.3mil. Its chief business officer, Cherry Hsu, said they hope to share their 'vision and mission' with Trump at the dinner. 'It's a very, very good opportunity,' Hsu said. Some traders are playing the market, not the dinner game. One investor, using the alias 'ABC', spent US$160,000 on the coin the day before the dinner was publicly announced, then sold the entire holding just eight days later, making US$407,000 in profit. Because the contest rewards average holdings over time, ABC may still score an invite despite holding zero $TRUMP now. All of this frenzied trading has proven lucrative for Trump and his family. Every time a $TRUMP coin is sold, the family and its partners earn a slice of the transaction. Since the coin launched, they've raked in US$320mil in fees, Chainalysis found. And that's just the beginning. Trump also controls 800 million $TRUMP coins through a tied business entity. Since news of the dinner contest began circulating in April, the value of that stash has ballooned by US$4.1bil – though that's theoretical, for now. If the family tried to sell all at once, the price would likely collapse. — ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times
The Star
05-06-2025
- The Star
Elon Musk gets more time to respond to US SEC lawsuit over Twitter stake
FILE PHOTO: Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has given Elon Musk six more weeks to respond to its civil lawsuit accusing the world's richest person of waiting too long in 2022 to reveal his large stake in Twitter, the social media company he later bought and renamed X. In a filing in federal court in Washington, D.C., the SEC and Musk agreed to push back the deadline for Musk's response to July 18 from June 6, calling it "reasonable and in the interest of conserving judicial resources." The SEC has said Musk's 11-day delay in disclosing his initial 5% Twitter stake let him to buy more than $500 million of the company's shares at artificially low prices, at the expense of unsuspecting investors. The agency's lawsuit seeks to force Musk to pay a civil fine and give up profits he didn't deserve. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)
