Institutional Investors Pour $38.7 Billion into Bitcoin ETFs in Q4

Institutional investors directed $38.7 billion into spot Bitcoin ETFs from October to December—3.1 times more than the previous quarter’s $12.4 billion.

Bitcoin ETF 13F AUM by quarter:

Q1: $11.5b
Q2: $11.1b
Q3: $12.4b
Q4: $38.7b

But I thought it was only retail…

— Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) February 18, 2025

The data was presented by Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise. The statistics are based on 13F filings for the SEC.

The obligation for quarterly disclosure arises for investors with assets exceeding $100 million.

CoinDesk noted that several hedge funds and pension institutions began purchasing BTC-ETFs since their launch in January 2024.

In the fourth quarter, the Wisconsin State Investment Board increased its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) to over 6 million shares.

Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones’s Tudor Investment Corporation increased its holdings of this product from 4.43 million to 8.05 million shares.

Corvex Management raised its holdings in BlackRock’s fund to over 1 million shares.

The number of institutional holders of IBIT exceeded 1,100, potentially setting a record for an ETF’s first year, according to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas. Typically, this figure does not exceed 10.

$IBIT alone now has 1,100 holders via 13Fs. Insane. No way to track but my guess is the record for first year prior to this was prob like 350. For context, $NUKZ, a pretty successful nuclear theme ETF launched same day as $IBIT has 29 holders. Most newbies have under 10.

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 18, 2025

“No way to track, but I guess the record for the first year was about 350,” concluded the expert.

Strategy and Institutional Investors

In the fourth quarter, institutional investors with assets under management of at least $100 million continued to increase their positions in shares of the Bitcoin company Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy). This is reported by The Block.

According to Fintel, Strategy has about 1,400 institutional investors holding MSTR equity securities worth ~$34 billion.

Vanguard sold 1.5 million shares but remained the largest holder (16.3 million).

Capital International Investors holds 12.5 million MSTR, followed by BlackRock with 11.2 million.

Institutions also opened positions in company stock options worth ~$37 billion, more than double the previous quarter, according to 13f.info.

Susquehanna International Group holds puts on 16.8 million MSTR, Citadel Advisors—puts on 13.6 million MSTR. Jane Street—calls on 13.6 million MSTR.

In 2024, Strategy purchased approximately 258,320 BTC in total. Following the latest transaction, conducted from February 3 to 9, 2025, the firm became the owner of 478,740 BTC worth over $46 billion.

On February 19, the company announced the issuance of $2 billion in convertible bonds. The firm intends to use the proceeds from the securities for general corporate purposes, including purchasing Bitcoin.

Earlier, Bernstein estimated the inflow of investments into BTC-ETFs this year at $60 billion.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink predicted Bitcoin’s rise to $700,000 if investors of all categories—from private to institutional—decide to allocate 2% to 5% of their portfolios to the leading cryptocurrency.

Previously, the government-owned Abu Dhabi company Mubadala Investment Company invested $436.9 million in IBIT in the fourth quarter of 2024.