Goldman Sachs “Spends Big” on Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs

Goldman Sachs “spent big” on Bitcoin ETFs in Q4 2024, with a total holding value of over $1.5 billion.

Increasing Bitcoin ETF holdings

According to the latest 13F report filed by Goldman Sachs with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank has significantly expanded its Bitcoin ETF portfolio.

As of December 31, 2024, the Wall Street giant owned approximately $1.27 billion (24.07 million shares) of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), up 88% from the previous quarter. This is the largest Bitcoin ETF product in terms of assets under management (AUM).

At the same time, Goldman doubled its holdings of Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), with a total value of $288 million (3.5 million shares), up 105% from the previous quarter. The bank also owns $3.6 million worth of Grayscale's GBTC.

The 13F report is required to be filed quarterly by institutional investment managers with at least $100 million in equity assets. The purpose of this report is to provide a view of large institutional investments in the stock market, helping to track and analyze the investment strategies of large asset managers such as Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs' expansion of its investment in Bitcoin through ETFs shows the bank's strong belief in the potential of cryptocurrencies, and reflects the trend of large institutions participating in the crypto market without directly owning Bitcoin.

Ethereum ETF is also popular

In addition to Bitcoin, Goldman Sachs also increased its exposure to Ethereum (ETH) in Q4/2024.

As of December 31, 2024, Goldman Sachs owned $476.5 million in Ethereum ETFs, up from $25.1 million on September 30, or nearly 19 times. Specifically, the bank holds $234.7 million in Fidelity's FETH fund and $235.5 million in BlackRock's ETHA fund. In addition, Goldman Sachs also owns $6.3 million in Grayscale's Ethereum mini-trust fund.

This change is especially impressive because before 2022, Goldman Sachs was still firmly "rejecting" crypto. At that time, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon called Bitcoin "speculative" and emphasized that the bank needed to comply with the regulations of the regulatory agency and could not directly participate in this market.

However, after only a few years, Goldman Sachs has made great strides. The bank has now established a dedicated cryptocurrency trading platform and is involved in several initiatives related to economic tokenization and blockchain technology. By December of that year, Goldman Sachs had invested tens of millions of dollars in various crypto companies.

Despite the surge in Ethereum investments, the total value of ETH investments still accounts for only about 30% of Goldman Sachs’ total cryptocurrency investments.