Original Nancy PANews 2024-05-17 19:18 Hong Kong, China

Author: Nancy, PANews

Since Bitcoin spot ETF opened the floodgates for mainstream capital inflow, it has shown strong money-making power in a short period of time. Recently, with the release of the US 13F (institutional holdings report), the positions of institutions participating in the "buying up" of Bitcoin spot ETFs have also been exposed. So, how is the market development of Bitcoin spot ETFs? Which ETF products have the investment tycoons allocated, and what investment signals have they released?

01

More than 50 billion US dollars of funds poured in.

The United States accounts for nearly 90% of the global

Looking at the global market size of Bitcoin spot ETFs, the United States is undoubtedly the main force. According to HODL15Capital data monitoring, as of May 7, the US Bitcoin spot ETF has held 827,321,000 BTC in the four months since its launch, with a value of approximately US$52.1 billion, accounting for 89.5% of the global market.

However, judging from the growth rate of funds, the capital inflow of the US Bitcoin spot ETF mainly came from the two months after its listing, and reached a peak of 836,000 BTC in mid-March this year, and then began to show a slight downward trend month by month.

Among the 11 US Bitcoin spot ETFs, the top three are Grayscale, BlackRock and Fidelity, showing strong "money-making power", holding a total of 719,000 BTC (worth $26.91 billion), accounting for 86.9% of the total, about 3.3 times that of "Bitcoin giant" MicroStrategy. In contrast, Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree and Hashdex performed relatively poorly, accounting for only 8.8%.

In terms of asset size, only Grayscale and BlackRock’s two Bitcoin spot ETFs are worth more than 10 billion US dollars. Among them, Grayscale has been experiencing a continuous outflow of funds since GBTC was converted into a spot ETF, and only recently saw the first inflow of funds. The number of BTC currently held is only 47% of that in January this year; BlackRock has basically been growing in the past few months, but the expansion rate has slowed down or even slightly declined since mid-April.

In addition, as the first market in Asia to issue spot Bitcoin ETFs, as of May 7, the three Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs have held a total of 4,256 BTC, with an asset management scale of US$270 million, but this is only nearly 0.7% of the US Bitcoin spot ETFs on their first day of listing, and there has been no obvious growth trend within a week of going online. It is worth mentioning that there have been recent market reports that Hong Kong Bitcoin spot ETFs may be included in the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program, but the Hong Kong ETF issuer denied it, saying that it was pure rumor, just like the previous rumors that southbound funds could buy Hong Kong Bitcoin ETFs.

02

Asset management is the main force in subscription.

These three products have become the mainstream choice

13F reports are considered an important channel for obtaining Wall Street investment trends. According to the US SEC regulations, equity asset institutions that manage stock assets exceeding US$100 million must disclose their current US equity holdings within 45 days after the end of each quarter (three months) and provide information on the whereabouts of the funds. According to the information disclosed in the existing market, many institutions have listed Bitcoin spot ETFs as investment targets. For example, Fintel data shows that IBIT has 207 holding institutions and shareholders, and GBTC has 402 institutional owners and shareholders.

In the following article, PANews has reviewed some institutions that have purchased Bitcoin spot ETFs and found that asset management institutions have invested relatively more funds and a richer range of product options, but their overall investment portfolio accounts for a small proportion, while banks are more cautious in product selection and have limited investment funds. Among the many Bitcoin spot ETFs, GBTC, IBIT and FBTC are almost the mainstream trading products in the market. In addition, it is interesting that three Hong Kong institutions have invested in US Bitcoin spot ETFs. Of course, this may be related to factors such as differences in fees and the background of asset custodians.

Susquehanna: $1.3 billion worth of GBTC, FBTC, ARKB, IBIT, BITB, etc.

Quantitative trading company Susquehanna International Group disclosed in the filing that it purchased $1.3 billion worth of spot Bitcoin ETFs, including 17.3 million shares of GBTC (worth more than $1.1 billion), 1.3 million shares of FBTC (worth $83.7 million), 508,824 shares of ARKB (worth $36.1 million), 583,049 shares of IBIT (worth about $23.6 million), 560,832 shares of BITB (worth $21.7 million), 256,354 shares of HODL (worth $20.6 million), 255,814 shares of BTCW (worth $19.3 million), 166,200 shares of BTCO (worth $11.8 million), and 192,391 shares of BRRR (worth $3.9 million). These combined investments account for only a small portion of the company's total investment of $575.9 billion.

Ovata Capital Management: Over $74 million worth of FBTC, GBTC, BITB, and IBIT

The latest filing submitted by Hong Kong asset management company Ovata Capital Management to the US SEC shows that it has a large position in US Bitcoin spot ETFs, including FBTC, GBTC, BITB and IBIT, accounting for 13.5%, 11.2%, 8.8% and 5.6% of its investment portfolio respectively, with a total value of more than US$74 million.

Hightower: Over $68 million worth of GBTC, FBTC, IBIT, ARKB, BITB, and EZBC

Hightower, an asset management company with an asset management scale of $130 billion, disclosed in an SEC document that it has purchased more than $68.34 million worth of US Bitcoin spot ETFs, including $44.84 million of Grayscale GBTC, $12.41 million of Fidelity FBTC, $7.62 million of IBIT, $1.7 million of ARKB, $990,000 of BITB, and $790,000 of EZBC. However, this part of the investment accounts for less than 0.1% of its total investment of $61.7 billion.

Yong Rong Asset Management: IBIT worth about $38 million

Yong Rong Asset Management, headquartered in Hong Kong, purchased about $38 million worth of IBIT, accounting for 12% of its portfolio, and is the largest holding of BlackRock's Bitcoin spot ETF. Yong Rong (Hong Kong) Asset Management Co., Ltd. is a securities investment and asset management company established in 2012. It has three funds and an asset management scale of hundreds of millions of US dollars. In addition to the Bitcoin spot ETF, the institution's latest investment portfolio also includes Nvidia, Tesla, META, Pinduoduo and Luckin Coffee.

United Capital Management: FBTC and BITO worth over $34.9 million

United Capital Management holds over 350,000 shares of FBTC and 410,000 shares of BITO, accounting for 4.9% and 3% of its latest investment portfolio, respectively, with a total value of approximately US$34.91 million. Among them, United Capital Management is one of the important shareholders of Fidelity FBTC.

United Capital Management is a US-based investment advisory firm that was sold by Goldman Sachs to Creative Planning, one of the largest private investment advisory firms in the US, with investment assets exceeding US$436 million.

Legacy Wealth Asset Management: Over $28.5 million worth of FBTC and GBTC

Asset management company Legacy Wealth Asset Management owns more than 350,000 shares of FBTC, accounting for 6.09% of its latest portfolio, and more than 100,000 shares of GBTC, accounting for 1.84%, with a total value of more than US$28.5 million. Legacy Wealth Asset Management is also one of the major shareholders of Fidelity FBTC.

Monolith Management: IBIT worth over $24 million

Monolith Management, an investment company owned by former Sequoia China partner Cao Xi, revealed in a filing that it has more than $24 million in IBIT, ranking fifth in BlackRock ETF holdings and more than double its investment in Meta stocks. In addition, the company's two largest investments are Nvidia and Microsoft.

Monolith Management is headquartered in Hong Kong. It is an investment management company jointly established by Cao Xi, former partner of Sequoia China, and Tim Wang, former secondary market partner of Boyu Capital. The scale of its first fund has exceeded US$500 million, and it mainly focuses on technology and innovation-driven technology, software, life sciences and consumer sectors.

IvyRock Asset Management: $19 million IBIT

IvyRock Asset Management is a hedge fund management company headquartered in Hong Kong. In its latest filing, it disclosed that it holds nearly $19 million in BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT.

Quattro Financial Advisors: IBIT worth more than $16.5 million

Quattro Financial Advisors, a multi-family office, is the second-largest holder of BlackRock’s Bitcoin Spot ETF, holding 468,000 shares of IBIT, worth approximately $16.5 million, or 5.4% of its portfolio.

Oxler Private Wealth: IBITs worth over $11.2 million

Investment platform Oxler Private Wealth holds 280,000 shares of IBIT in its latest portfolio, worth approximately US$11.24 million, accounting for 4.4%.

Newbridge Financial Services Group: Approximately $1.34 million worth of GBTC

Newbridge Financial Services Group, with assets exceeding $340 million, holds approximately 20,000 shares of GBTC, valued at approximately $1.34 million, or just 0.58% of its $230 million portfolio.

Bank of New York Mellon: GBTC worth approximately $1.11 million

BNY Mellon, the oldest bank in the United States, reported in its SEC filing that it holds 19,918 shares of IBIT and 7,108 shares of GBTC, currently worth approximately $1.113 million.

SouthState Bank: GBTC and IBIT worth more than $570,000

SouthState Bank disclosed its investment in two spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. SEC13F filing, with a total value of $577,198, including 6,606 shares of GBTC (valued at approximately $417,301) and 3,951 shares of IBIT (valued at approximately $159,897). SouthState Bank's investment in spot Bitcoin ETFs is only a small portion of the total $1.3 billion reported in its filing report.

It is understood that SouthState Bank is a US-based bank holding company. After the merger with CenterState Bank, the total assets managed by the two entities reached US$34 billion.

BNP Paribas: IBIT worth about $40,000

BNP Paribas, the second largest bank in Europe, has a total asset management scale of more than $600 billion. In the 13F document recently submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, it disclosed its purchase power of 1,030 shares of IBIT, but the value was only about $40,000. BNP Paribas began to actively explore the encryption field last year. In addition to providing cryptocurrency services, it also participated in related investments, such as Fnality, a traditional financial asset tokenization company. Newbridge Financial Services Group has an asset scale of more than $340 million and holds about 20,000 shares of GBTC, worth about $1.34 million, accounting for only 0.58% of its $230 million portfolio.