Goldman Sachs Enters Bitcoin ETF, Morgan Stanley Withdraws

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Opened the door In January, bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) entered the mainstream, giving many traditional financial institutions on Wall Street and beyond a chance to buy cryptocurrencies. Since then, money has continued to pour in, albeit in fits and starts.

On Wednesday, banks and hedge funds with more than $100 million in assets had a deadline to file their second-quarter 13F reports, disclosing their investments and what they bought and sold over the past three months.

Goldman Sachs This quarter was strong, while competitors Morgan Stanley Slashed its cryptocurrency holdings. JPMorgan Chase It hasn’t caused much of a stir yet.

There’s no shortage of opportunities for companies looking to slowly enter the market. Following a slew of bitcoin-related public ETFs in January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took another step last month, clearing the way for bitcoin to be listed. Spot Ethereum ETF, Giving investors exposure to the second-largest cryptocurrency. These new holdings will begin to appear in third-quarter reports.

From March to June, Goldman Sachs It entered the cryptocurrency ETF market for the first time and purchased a $418 million Bitcoin fund. Its largest holding is a $238 million stake in BlackRock. iShares Bitcoin Trust. The bank also holds stakes in spot funds from Grayscale, Invesco, Fidelity and others.

Morgan Stanley is the first of the major Wall Street firms to give Green light for 15,000 financial advisors Began marketing the Bitcoin ETF to clients with a net worth of more than $1.5 million, especially by BlackRock So far, the wealth management business has facilitated trades only when clients requested exposure to new spot cryptocurrency funds.

Morgan Stanley $1.5 trillion in assets under managementThe bank disclosed Its filing The company cut its spot Bitcoin ETF holdings from about $270 million to about $189 million. Most of the reduction was due to the sale of Almost all shares Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has a much higher management fee than other ETFs. Currently, the vast majority of the bank’s physical Bitcoin holdings are held through the iShares Trust.

JPMorgan Chase Reported cryptocurrency risks are minimal About $42,000 worth of shares in the Grayscale Bitcoin Fund and $18,000 worth of shares in the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. HSBC have Nearly $3.6 million Value of spot Bitcoin holdings, all from funds issued by Ark 21Shares, UBS have About $300,000 The value of spot Bitcoin ETF holdings, and Bank of America Owning collective shares Approximately US$5.3 millionmainly from BlackRock and Fidelity.

For most banks, the vast majority, if not all, of ETF liquidity can be attributed to investments requested by wealth management clients, rather than the bank’s decision to keep these assets on its balance sheet.

While Wall Street investment banks have been slow to enter the market, hedge funds have taken a more aggressive approach.

Millennium Management manages $62 billion in assets and currently holds Over $1.1 billion worth of shares held in at least five Bitcoin ETFsis also the largest single shareholder of BlackRock Bitcoin Fund, holding shares worth The company is valued at more than $371 million, according to an August filing..

This is a significant drop from its $844 million stake. Documents submitted as of MayThe firm has cut its stake in BlackRock funds by about half and its stake in Grayscale funds by more than half.

London-based Capula Investment Management is one of Europe’s top hedge funds. Assets under management: $30 billiondisclosed in Recent SEC Filings It holds more than $464 million in spot bitcoin ETFs, including funds offered by BlackRock and Fidelity.

Point72 Asset Management and Apollo Management have also entered the market, joined by firms such as Citadel Advisors, Jane Street and Fortress Investment Group.

Since its launch in January, the spot bitcoin fund has seen net flows of approximately $17.5 billion, bringing total fund assets to $53.5 billion as of mid-August. Grayscale FundPre-existing funds that have converted to ETFs have raised $19.4 billion Fund outflow But since the change, its new budget products have seen net inflows of $274 million.

point ether As of Tuesday, ETFs held more than $7.6 billion. Barclays analysts noted that trading volumes for all spot cryptocurrency ETF products have declined compared to spot exchange trading volumes.

Still, new ETF activity helped boost bitcoin prices, which hit a high of more than $73,000 in March. Since then, bitcoin has fallen sharply to below $58,000 amid volatility in surrounding markets, though it is still up more than 30% this year.

“The crypto market is strong because we’re feeling a shift in sentiment,” Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz told CNBC in May. “Crypto is an asset class now. It’s going to be an asset next year and it’s going to be an asset forever. That wasn’t the case two years ago. There are risks to this asset class, but the risks have decreased.”

ETFs aren’t the only way for investors to participate in the market.

Daniel Sundheim’s D1 Capital The company established its bitcoin mining position in the latest quarter, taking advantage of a shift by miners to retrofit facilities to serve artificial intelligence clients. Like cryptocurrency mining, AI workloads require a lot of electricity.

D1, which managed about $19 billion in assets at the beginning of the year, bought nearly $5.4 million worth of BitDeer Technology$17.3 million Iris Energyand nearly $17.4 million Hut 8.

Hut 8 First Quarter Earnings Report It has been purchased Nvidia AI processor and has signed a customer agreement with a venture-backed AI cloud platform as part of its expansion. Iris Energy expects its AI cloud service to bring in up to $17 million in revenue per year.

The combined market capitalization of 14 major U.S.-listed bitcoin miners hit a record high of $22.8 billion on June 15, according to a report from JPMorgan Chase. invest Capital is invested in ETFs consisting of miners and individual companies. So far, UBS has increased its holdings in Bitdeer, Bitfarms, Bit Digital, Hut 8, and Iris Energy shares worth more than $5 million. Latest 13F filing.

Sundheim had previously During his 15 years at Viking Global Investors, he earned a reputation as a savvy investor.changed his mind about Bitcoin. In 2019, he compared Canadian cannabis companies to The closest thing to a bubble since Bitcoin.

watch: Bitcoin miners are turning to artificial intelligence