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Blackrock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has amassed 414 insitutional holders in less than three months, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A senior Bloomberg analyst described this achievement as “mind-boggling” and “highly rare” for new ETFs. Other recently launched ETFs have significantly fewer institutional holders.
According to 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the first quarter, 414 institutions have declared holdings in Blackrock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Ishares Bit oin Trust (IBIT). The SEC requires institutional investment managers overseeing over $100 million in assets to file Form 13F to disclose their securities holdings.
Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas described this achievement as “mind-boggling,” noting that it “blows away record.” He emphasized that having even 20 holders for a newly launched ETF is “highly rare.” Other ETFs launched in January have not achieved nearly as many institutional holders as Blackrock’s IBIT and several other spot bitcoin ETFs, such as the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB), the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), and the ARK 21shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).
The largest institutional holder of IBIT shares is Millennium Management LLC, which owns 20,859,447 shares valued at approximately $844 million as of March 31. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC is the second-largest institutional holder with 6,128,450 shares worth about $248 million. The U.S. State of Wisconsin Investment Board is the sixth largest institutional holder of IBIT, with 2,450,400 shares, valued at roughly $99 million.
In comparison, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund has 235 institutional holders, Bitwise Bitcoin ETF has 98 institutional holders, and the ARK 21shares Bitcoin ETF has 75 institutional holders. Notably, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has a lengthy list of 619 institutional holders. However, Grayscale converted GBTC from a bitcoin trust to a spot bitcoin ETF in January, and many institutions already held GBTC prior to this conversion.
As of May 16, IBIT’s bitcoin holdings stood at 276,190 BTC, valued at over $18 billion. Throughout the week, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs experienced daily inflows totaling $948.3 million. Grayscale’s GBTC only saw a net daily outflow on May 14, amounting to $50.9 million. In contrast, IBIT recorded inflows of $131.8 million, Fidelity’s FBTC saw inflows of $344.5 million, and Ark’s spot bitcoin ETF received inflows of $243.7 million.
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink stated in March that he is “very bullish on the long-term viability of bitcoin.” The executive added that his firm’s spot bitcoin ETF “is the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs,” emphasizing: “Nothing has gained assets as fast as IBIT in the history of ETFs.”
