Millennium, Point72 and Elliott Are Among Bitcoin ETF Buyers

When it comes to Bitcoin ETFs, it’s not just the retail trading crowd that’s taking the plunge. It’s now clear that hedge funds, pension funds and banks have also sprinkled capital into the exchange-traded funds after their blockbuster debut that was more than a decade in the making.

Among the most well-known buyers that have emerged are hedge funds like Millennium Management, which held around $2 billion worth of shares in at least four Bitcoin ETFs, as well as Steven Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management and Elliott Investment Management.

Others ranged from the State of Wisconsin Investment Board to Bank of Montreal among firms crossing geographies from Hong Kong to the Cayman Islands, Puerto Rico and Switzerland. Following Wednesday’s deadline to file first-quarter 13F reports with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, roughly 1,000 filers held shares in the ETFs, according to a Bloomberg analysis of the filings. Market makers that trade the ETFs, like Citadel Securities, and quant-trading firm Susquehanna International Group also reported holdings of the funds.

The reports only represent a snapshot in time at the end of the first quarter, and it’s impossible to know without confirmation why money managers were holding the ETFs. It’s likely not all of them are Bitcoin bulls. Some may have opened the position as part of a trade meant to profit from the cryptocurrency’s volatility or offset a short position in derivatives. Others may have bought the ETFs as part of a basis trade, a popular strategy which exploits differences in prices between spot and futures markets, without the inconvenience of dealing directly with Bitcoin directly. And some trading strategies are model-driven, meaning the investments aren’t indicative of any opinions regarding Bitcoin’s fundamental value.