44% of Institutional Investors Add to Bitcoin ETFs, Morgan Stanley Holds $187 Million in IBIT in Q2

According to 13F filings, 44% of institutional investors added to their Bitcoin ETF positions in Q2. Morgan Stanley held $187 million in BlackRock’s IBIT as of June 30, making it the fifth-largest shareholder in IBIT.

As reported, it’s now time for Wall Street firms to file their 13F filings with the SEC to report their Q2 investments.

A 13F filing is a quarterly report filed with the SEC by investment managers with at least $100 million in assets under management (AUM). The 13F filing provides a manager’s overall portfolio at the end of each quarter. However, 13F only requires the disclosure of long positions, not short positions.

A day ago, we learned that Goldman Sachs and DRW Holdings are heavily invested in crypto ETFs, holding positions worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Today, Morgan Stanley revealed that it owns more than 5.5 million shares of IBIT, equivalent to $187.79 million as of June 30. With this holding, Morgan Stanley is the fifth largest shareholder of the Bitcoin spot ETF of the giant BlackRock.

In a 13F filing today, Morgan Stanley reported owning 5,500,626 shares of iShares Bitcoin Trust as of June 30 (valued at $187,791,372 as of that date).

The filing notes under "Investment Discretion" that all 5.5 million shares are allocated to Morgan Stanley Investment… https://t.co/SKL9AF2R3V— MacroScope (@MacroScope17) August 14, 2024

In addition to IBIT, the bank also owns 26,222 shares of Ark 21Shares' ARKB, worth about $1.57 million, down slightly from the first quarter.

But the most notable is the GBTC portfolio. In the first 3 months of the year, Morgan Stanley held $270 million of Grayscale's GBTC, making it the second-largest shareholder after Susquehanna International Group's $1 billion.

By Q2, Morgan Stanley owned about $148,000 worth of GBTC, or 0.05% of its Q1 position. The 13F filings do not list sell orders, so we don’t know when the bank sold during the three months of Q2, but it appears that it has sold nearly all of its GBTC.

Grayscale’s GBTC has a non-competitive annual fee compared to its competitors, so it’s not uncommon for institutions to sell GBTC to move to other ETFs, especially BlackRock.

After compiling the 13F filings, Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said:

A few initial thoughts after reviewing the Q2 Bitcoin 13-F filings:

1) The Institutions Are Still Coming; Total Filings Are Up: I count 1,924 holder<>ETF pairs across all 10 ETFs, up from 1,479 in Q1. That's a 30% increase; not bad considering prices fell in Q2.

Of course, this…

— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) August 14, 2024

44% of institutional investors increased their Bitcoin spot ETF holdings in Q2. Meanwhile, 22% held steady, only 21% reduced their positions and 13% exited.

Matt Hougan commented that this is a good result, on par with other ETFs. This proves that Bitcoin ETFs are gradually asserting themselves as an effective investment tool alongside traditional tools.

According to Hougan, institutional investors are the most "diamond hand" and do not panic sell when the market fluctuates in the short term like individual investors.

“If you think institutional investors will panic at the first sign of volatility, the data shows the opposite. They are quite calm and steadfast.”