You may not know it, but while the SEC was busy suing Binance and Coinbase, BlackRock and the largest banks in the United States were quietly buying record amounts of Bitcoin.
Banks that bought Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2023 include:
BLACKROCK
Bank Of America
Fidelity
Why are they like this?
Looking at the largest holders of MicroStrategy (MSTR) stock, we can see that some large banks bought a lot of MSTR stock in the first quarter of 2023! Yes, that’s the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin, MSTR, with 140,000 Bitcoins worth over $3 billion!
Why would these banks buy stocks tied to the price of Bitcoin in the context of SEC litigation and Operational Bottleneck 2.0? Considering there are no ETFs in the U.S., buying MSTR is the easiest way for U.S. investors to gain exposure to the price of Bitcoin.
Amazingly, Bank of America increased its exposure to MicroStrategy by 47,800% in Q1 2023! As the second largest bank in the US with a market cap of $233 billion and over $3 trillion in AUM! Now let’s see what the world’s largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in AUM is quietly doing…
While Bank of America may own 2.37% of MSTR, BlackRock owns three times as much! Interestingly, BlackRock owns 6% of MSTR, worth over $156 million…
You might be thinking: “Doesn’t Blackrock only invest in environmental, social and governance (ESG) friendly companies?” “Why would they buy Bitcoin related companies?” I know, it’s shocking! However, they are not the only billion dollar bank quietly accumulating MSTR.
Another giant firm with over $4.5 trillion in AUM increased its exposure to MicroStrategy by 28,000%. Fidelity holds a 1% stake in MSTR. Interestingly, in 2023, it’s not just multi-billion dollar US banks that are interested in Bitcoin exposure, the world is paying attention to Bitcoin.
We can also see that Canada's sixth largest bank bought more than $500,000 worth of MicroStrategy stock in 2023. The important questions we should explore are:
Bitcoin price drops 60%, “Why are all these banks doing this in early 2023?”
Are they following the lead of the $700 billion bank that recently predicted Bitcoin would reach $100,000 by 2024? These banks buying Bitcoin makes more sense when we consider the following three points:
There are no Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., and buying MSTR is an easy way for investors to gain exposure to the Bitcoin price.
Global attention to Bitcoin continues to rise, and major banks have joined in Bitcoin investment.
Optimistic predictions about Bitcoin from institutions such as Standard Chartered Bank may have influenced the investment decisions of other banks.
The actions of these banks reveal their confidence and expectations for Bitcoin, which continues to consolidate its position in the global financial market despite many challenges.