Wall Street investment banking giant Morgan Stanley has recently disclosed that it has entered the Bitcoin spot ETF market by investing $269.9 million in Grayscale’s GBTC, making it one of the largest holders of GBTC.
In its 13F filing submitted to the SEC in the first quarter of this year, Morgan Stanley revealed that it has invested $269.9 million in Grayscale’s GBTC. According to Fintel data, this makes Morgan Stanley one of the largest holders of GBTC, second only to Susquehanna International Group’s $1 billion investment.
The 13F report is considered an important channel for obtaining insights into Wall Street investment trends. According to SEC regulations, institutional equity asset managers with stock assets exceeding $100 million are required to disclose their current positions within 45 days after the end of each quarter and provide information on the destination of funds.
Morgan Stanley, along with other global systemically important banks (G-SIBs), such as the Royal Bank of Canada, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, and UBS, has become one of the significant banks that have disclosed investments in Bitcoin spot ETFs.
Several other companies have also disclosed their investment amounts in Bitcoin spot ETFs prior to the deadline for filing 13F reports for the first quarter. Pine Ridge Advisers, a New York advisory firm, disclosed its $205.8 million investment, including $83.2 million in IBIT from BlackRock, $93.4 million in FBTC from Fidelity, and $29.3 million in BITB from Bitwise.
Boothbay Fund Management, a New York-based hedge fund management company, disclosed its $377 million exposure to Bitcoin spot ETFs, including $149.8 million in IBIT, $105.5 million in FBTC, $69.5 million in GBTC, and $52.3 million in BITB. Aristeia Capital Llc, an alternative asset management company, disclosed its $163.4 million investment in IBIT, and Graham Capital Management, an investment company based in Connecticut, disclosed its $98.8 million investment in IBIT and $3.8 million in FBTC. Hedge fund management company Crcm Lp disclosed its $96.6 million investment in IBIT, and Fortress Investment Group LLC, a New York-based investment management company, disclosed its $53.6 million investment in IBIT.
However, these disclosures may just be the tip of the iceberg. Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, previously predicted that there could be over 700 institutions disclosing their Bitcoin spot ETF positions with a total fund size of $5 billion after the May 15 deadline for the U.S. 13F reports. Hougan stated that although the gold ETF launched in 2004 is considered the most successful ETF in history, raising $1 billion within the first five days and attracting 95 institutional holdings in its initial 13F report, the current scale of Bitcoin spot ETFs has already surpassed the achievements of the gold ETF at its launch.
According to Sosovalue data, the total assets under management of all Bitcoin spot ETFs have reached $55 billion, with a total inflow of $12.15 billion.