$469,000,000,000 Bank Acquires Bitcoin Through Bitcoin ETF from BlackRock

• Multiple Wall Street banks are accumulating Spot Bitcoin ETFs to gain exposure to BTC.
• The growing embrace has increased the sentiment around the potential rally to $100,000.

A recent filing from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals several prominent banks in the United States valued at about $469 billion in combined Assets Under Management (AUM) are purchasing Bitcoin through BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). While this action shows that institutions are becoming more interested in Bitcoin, it has also sparked conjecture over whether the price could reach $100,000 soon.

US Banks Accumulates Bitcoin ETF Shares

Julian Fahrer, the CEO of the Bitcoin-centric app Apollo Sats gave the update on the X platform, stating, “BREAKING: 13F SEC Filings show US Banks are buying Bitcoin.” He specifically mentioned American National Bank’s participation in Ark’s ETF, calling it “significant for breaking the seal on banks buying ETFs.”

Fahrer noted that, in addition to banks, prominent Wall Street corporations from a range of investment managers and family offices with AUM ranging from $200 million to $10 billion also accumulated Bitcoin through ETFs.

Park Avenue Securities LLC, with an AUM of $9.9 billion, is the second biggest name on the list, having purchased 7,328 GBTC shares for $457,780. In sum, Wall Street firms with a combined $15 billion in AUM purchased exposure to Bitcoin ETFs worth around $4 million in Q1. 

Taking to the X platform to discuss Bitcoin purchases from institutional players, Matt Hougan, Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer highlighted May 15 as a critical date for investors to watch.  

“Investors with more than $100m in AUM have to file reports with the SEC called “13-F Filings” disclosing their publicly traded holdings. Those filings are due 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter, Hougan stated. Although the filing provides a snapshot, Hougan believes that some of the names will come as a surprise to people.

BlackRock’s IBIT Competes Fiercely With Grascayle’s GBTC

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is following Grayscale’s GBTC closely in AUM terms, with only a 50,000 BTC difference. As revealed in a recent YouTube video from Crypto News Flash, IBIT now holds 266,587 BTC worth roughly $18.79 billion, whilst GBTC has 315,941 BTC worth around $22.27 billion.

This heightened competition between IBIT and GBTC is caused by disparity between the two ETFs’ flows. While GBTC has experienced outflows since its launch in January, IBIT has seen substantial inflows. According to reports, IBIT accumulates Bitcoin weekly at an average of 20,120 BTC. On the other hand, GBTC witnesses an average weekly sell-off of 22,620.

If these dynamics continue to hold for both ETFs, BlackRock could potentially surpass Grayscale as the leading Bitcoin ETF in the United States. Notably, BlackRock also holds a huge position in the ETF market as it recently overtook MicroStrategy in institutional Bitcoin holdings, as previously reported by Crypto News Flash.

As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $67,554, demonstrating an 4.68% decrease in the past day, with its market capitalization pegged at $1.3 trillion. However, the trading volume increased by 61.8% to $47.9 billion, showing a potential buying interest.

While it is not certain if Bitcoin will climb to the $100,000 mark soon, such outstanding increase in trading volume indicates a bullish trajectory for the top cryptocurrency.

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