Farallon Capital Management, Cetera Investment Advisers, and BigSur Wealth Management have reported multi-million dollar investments in spot Bitcoin ETFs in the first quarter.
Farallon Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund manager, disclosed an $85.2 million investment in Grayscales GBTC on May 24.
Based on Fintel data, the company is among the 10 firms with the largest GBTC positions.
Independent wealth hub Cetera Investment Advisers disclosed a $22.6 million investment in GBTC on May 24, placing it among the 25 firms with the largest GBTC positions.
BigSur Wealth Management disclosed a $3.3 million investment in BlackRocks IBIT on May 22, placing it among the 80 firms with the largest IBIT investments.
None of the companies disclosed positions in other spot Bitcoin ETFs. However, Cetera Investment Advisers disclosed an 83% increase in its position in ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) from the previous quarter.
First quarter of spot BTC ETFs
The latest filings describe investments during the first quarter despite their late filing date and add to overall industry totals for the first quarter.
Shortly before the May 15 filing deadline, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan estimated that 563 professional investment firms had disclosed $3.5 billion in spot Bitcoin ETF holdings. On May 15, pseudonymous analyst Trader T reported that 929 institutions had invested in at least one spot Bitcoin ETF.
Major global banks, including JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley, and BNY Mellon, have all invested in spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Susquehanna, Horizon Kinetics, and Morgan Stanley remain the firms with the largest GBTC positions, while Millennium and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors remain the firms with the largest IBIT positions.
The crypto sector now anticipates the launch of spot Ethereum ETFs following the approval of 19-b4 filings on May 23. JP Morgan believes the funds will launch before November.