Institutional Bitcoin ETFs: Institutions Control Over 25% of AUM with $27B Holdings
As of December 31st, institutional investors held 25.4% of the total assets managed in spot Bitcoin ETFs, which equates to a significant $26.8 billion.
Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33 Research, shared data indicating a substantial 113% surge in institutional ownership of Bitcoin ETF assets under management between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
Furthermore, the proportion of assets managed by institutions grew by 4.1% in the last quarter alone, contributing to a significant 69% overall increase in total assets, reaching $78.8 billion by the end of the fourth quarter.
Lunde’s analysis also revealed a notable 37.4% quarterly jump in the number of investors accessing Bitcoin through ETFs, reaching 1,576 in the last quarter, and an even more impressive 68.2% increase year-over-year.
IBIT dominance
The data from Lunde further highlighted a remarkable surge in institutional interest in BlackRock’s IBIT, growing more than fourfold throughout 2024.
Institutional holdings in IBIT reached $16 billion by the end of the fourth quarter of last year, a significant jump from under $4 billion at the end of the first quarter, with the majority of this expansion occurring between the third and fourth quarters.
Recent reports show that Mubadala Investment Company, a major sovereign wealth fund from Abu Dhabi, reported Bitcoin exposure in IBIT amounting to nearly $437 million by the close of the fourth quarter.
Additionally, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) increased its Bitcoin investment via IBIT by 110% in the same timeframe, exceeding $321 million. SWIB consolidated its Bitcoin ETF holdings into IBIT, divesting from other ETFs like Grayscale’s GBTC to exclusively hold BlackRock’s IBIT as of December 31st.
Fidelity’s FBTC also experienced substantial growth, expanding by almost 100% quarter-over-quarter. However, the total assets under management held by institutions in FBTC still remain around $5 billion.
Data from Bold Report indicates that BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF manages nearly $56.4 billion in assets, while the combined assets under management of all other US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs total $56.9 billion.
