Key Takeaways
- JP Morgan, in its filing, has disclosed $731,246 in investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs.
- Wells Fargo also invested over $140,000 in Grayscale’s BTC.
- BNP Paribas disclosed that it currently holds 1,030 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust.
Major traditional financial institutions around the world are now disclosing their exposure to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Global bank JP Morgan, in its filing, has disclosed $731,246 of spot Bitcoin ETF investments in BlackRock’s IBIT, Fidelity’s FBTC, Bitwise’s BITB, and Grayscale’s GBTC. Around $477,425 of the total amount was invested in IBIT. Apart from JP Morgan, Wells Fargo had also invested over $140,000 in Grayscale’s BTC earlier this year.
The JP Morgan disclosure comes on the same day as BlackRock revealing a $6.6 million investment in its own IBIT fund in its latest 13F filing. Even though the exposure remains meager and modest, many believe the volume of funds invested in ETFs would only increase in the coming months.
Earlier this month, Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets for BlackRock, stated that the coming months could potentially witness financial institutions, including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and endowments, start to trade in the spot ETFs. His prediction is expected to come to fruition as leading banks, including Morgan Stanley and UBS, have recently indicated their interest in allowing clients to invest in spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Earlier this month, French banking giant BNP Paribas disclosed that it currently holds 1,030 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). Reportedly, the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (BNY Mellon), one of the oldest and largest banks in the US, has also revealed its investments in BTC ETFs managed by BlackRock and Grayscale.
Highlighting the increasing adoption of Bitcoin ETFs, Bloomberg ETF expert Eric Balchunas pointed out that before the introduction of BTC ETFs, the record for an ETF to reach $10 billion in assets was held by the JPMorgan Nasdaq Equity Premium ETF called JEPQ, which took almost three years.
However, BlackRock’s IBIT was able to reach that milestone in just 49 days. IBIT, launched on January 11, 2024, set a new record for reaching $10 billion in Assets Under Management.
