Complete list of 1000 Bitcoin spot ETF buyers: Investment scale exceeds $11.5 billion, with hedge funds taking the lead.

Author: Nian Qing, ChainCatcher

After the deadline for submitting the first quarter 13F report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (May 15), approximately 1,000 institutions held about $11.55 billion worth of Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Institutions have varying levels of investment in Bitcoin ETFs. Among them, 18 institutions hold assets exceeding $100 million, 102 institutions hold assets exceeding $10 million, and 371 institutions hold assets exceeding $1 million. The majority of institutions hold BTC ETF assets that only account for a small portion of their total assets under management.

The 18 institutions holding assets exceeding $100 million are mostly well-known hedge funds and asset management companies, such as Millennium Management, Jane Street Group, and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. Similarly, the investment of large institutions in crypto assets only represents a small portion of their total asset management scale.

Furthermore, although 13F filings serve as an important indicator in the investment community, the fact that these institutions hold Bitcoin spot ETFs does not necessarily indicate a bullish sentiment towards Bitcoin. For high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies are merely volatile assets, and most institutions purchase Bitcoin for speculative trading strategies, without fully endorsing any fundamental value of Bitcoin. Does this mean that even after the official approval of BTC spot ETFs in the United States in January this year, the market still lacks long-term holders of Bitcoin?

However, overall, as of the end of the first quarter, the asset size of spot BTC ETFs exceeded $11 billion, making it the most successful ETF issuance in history. The BTC ETF has elevated Bitcoin to a recognized financial asset and has opened up avenues for professional investors, hedge funds, family offices, and institutions to participate in Bitcoin investments. Institutional interest in BTC ETF is increasingly strong.

About 13F Filings

The full name of 13F is SEC Form 13F. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires investment institutions or advisors with assets under management exceeding $100 million to submit quarterly reports within 45 days after the end of each quarter, disclosing their holdings of common stocks (including ETFs), options, American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), convertible bonds, etc., and providing detailed information on the types of securities, stock names and quantities, total market value, etc.

Institutions' 13F filings should be submitted to the SEC within 45 days after the end of the calendar year quarter, usually before February 15, May 15, August 15, and November 15 of each year (or the next business day if it falls on a holiday). The reports are then made public in the SEC's database (EDGAR) after submission. Most institutions wait until the last minute to submit their reports in order to conceal their investment strategies from competitors. The data from the Q2 13-F filings is worth paying attention to, and ChainCatcher will continue to monitor it.

In this article, ChainCatcher has compiled a complete list of institutions holding BTC ETFs in descending order of investment amount based on the 13F filings of BTC ETF holders list published by ccn.com. Let's first take a look at the top ten institutions holding spot BTC ETFs.

Top Ten Institutions Holding Spot BTC ETFs

1. Millennium Management

Keywords: Hedge Fund

Millennium Management is a global investment firm founded by Israel Englander in 1989. The company is known for its multi-strategy hedge funds. As of the first quarter of this year, Millennium has invested approximately $2 billion in several ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O), Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, as well as funds launched by Bitwise Investments and ARK Investment Management. Its total assets under management amount to $234 billion, with crypto investments accounting for less than one percent.

2. Susquehanna International Group (SIG)

Keywords: Market Maker, Asset Management, Venture Capital Fund

SIG was founded in 1987 and its business scope includes securities investment, trading, and financial services. Its most well-known expertise lies in the pricing and trading of financial derivatives (especially stock options). It is also a "designated market maker" for approximately 600 stock options and 45 stock index options on the Chicago Options Exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and the International Stock Exchange, responsible for brands such as Google, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, General Electric, PepsiCo, and Microsoft. SIG Asia holds about 15% of ByteDance's shares.

Although SIG has invested $1.326 billion in BTC ETF, this investment only represents a small portion of its investment portfolio. The company's assets under management at the end of the first quarter amounted to $576 billion, with crypto investments accounting for only two thousandths.

3. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management

Keywords: Hedge Fund, Asset Management

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management was established in May 2011, resulting from the merger of Horizon Asset Management, established in 1994, and Kinetics Asset Management, established in 1996. As early as 2016, Horizon Kinetics allocated 1% of its shares to invest in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust fund. In 2020, it held the fifth-largest share of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. The company also issued a "Blockchain Development ETF," primarily investing in the stock securities of listed blockchain development companies, American Depositary Receipts, and global Depositary Receipts.

The company's assets under management at the end of the first quarter amounted to $5.3 billion, with an investment of $946 million in BTC ETF, accounting for 17.8%.

4. Jane Street Group

Keywords: Hedge Fund, Market Maker

Jane Street is a quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider, with several founders in the crypto community, including SBF. Despite announcing a reduction in its crypto business at the time of the FTX incident in May last year when U.S. policies tightened, Jane Street has been providing market-making services for the crypto industry. Jane Street Capital is also an authorized trader for Grayscale, Fidelity, and WisdomTree's Bitcoin spot ETF.

The company's assets under management at the end of the first quarter amounted to $478 billion, with an investment of $634 million in BTC ETF, accounting for only one thousandth.

5. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors

Keywords: Hedge Fund

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors is a hedge fund headquartered in New York, established in 2015. The predecessor of Schonfeld's consulting business was a family office operated by Mr. Steven Schonfeld. Schonfeld invested $248 million in IBIT and $231.8 million in FBTC in the first quarter, totaling $479 million.

The company's assets under management at the end of the first quarter amounted to $15 billion, with an investment of $480 million in BTC ETF, accounting for 3.2%.

6. Bracebridge Capital

Keywords: Hedge Fund

Bracebridge Capital is a hedge fund based in Boston, United States, established in 1994, managing funds for Yale University and Princeton University's endowments.

Bracebridge Capital made a large-scale purchase of Bitcoin spot ETFs this year, including $300 million of ARKB from Ark 21Shares and $100 million of BlackRock's IBIT, as well as $26.52 million of Grayscale GBTC, accounting for 86% of its total assets. Its purchase of ARKB accounts for 9.94% of the total outstanding shares, even higher than Ark's own holding of 6.68%.

7. Boothbay Fund Management

Keywords: Hedge Fund

Boothbay Fund Management is an institutional investment company based in New York City, established at the end of 2011 and operated by renowned fund manager Ari Glass, managing two global multi-strategy multi-manager funds. Since 2013, Boothbay Fund Management has been investing in cryptocurrencies.

Boothbay Fund Management disclosed a $377 million investment in spot BTC ETFs, including $149.8 million in IBIT, $105.5 million in FBTC, $69.5 million in GBTC, and $52.3 million in BITB. Its Q1 assets under management amounted to $5.2 billion.

8. Morgan Stanley

Keywords: Hedge Fund, Asset Management

Morgan Stanley is an international financial services company based in New York, providing financial services including securities, asset management, corporate restructuring, and credit cards. As of March 31, Morgan Stanley held nearly $270 million worth of GBTC. Shortly after the approval of BTC spot ETF in January, Morgan Stanley opened up the allocation of related ETFs to clients, so the related investment is likely to represent clients rather than the bank's own bet on Bitcoin.

Its Q1 assets under management amounted to $1.2 trillion, with a very small proportion allocated to crypto investments.

9. ARK Investment Management

Keywords: Investment Fund, Asset Management

ARK Invest is an asset management company headquartered in New York, founded by "Wood Sister" Cathie Wood in 2014. Its Q1 holdings amounted to approximately $14 billion, with the largest holdings in stocks being COIN (Coinbase) and TSLA (Tesla).

In January this year, 21Shares and ARK Invest officially launched a Bitcoin spot ETF. Shortly after the issuance of the related ETF, one of ARK Investment's ETF products, ARK Next Generation Internet ETF, sold its $16 million position in the Bitcoin futures ETF—ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF to purchase 365,427 shares of ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF issued by Ark Investment, expanding its scale. After purchasing this ETF, ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF currently accounts for approximately 1% of ARKW's total position.

10. Pine Ridge Advisers

Keywords: Investment Advisor

Pine Ridge Advisers is a U.S. investment advisory company established in 2014. Its current assets under management amount to $855 million, with the company holding $205 million of IBIT, FBTC, and BITB, accounting for 23% of its total management scale. Analysts believe that Pine Ridge Advisers may be considering arbitrage trading rather than allocating a quarter of its clients' investment portfolios to Bitcoin like some investment advisors.