Crypto ‘Non-Believer’ Goldman Sachs Holds $418M in Bitcoin Spot ETFs

A recent 13F filing at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that banking giant Goldman Sachs holds a massive Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) investments.

Per the bank’s quarterly (Q2) filing, Goldman Sachs currently has $418 million worth BTC spot ETFs. This includes $238.6 million from the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), $79.5 million from Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF (FBTC), in the lead.

The investment bank also holds Invesco Galaxy’s BTC ETF (BTCO) at $56.1 million and Grayscale’s GBTC at $35.1 million.

After the market closed today, Goldman Sachs filed a 13F disclosing the following positions as of June 30:

$238.6 million iShares Bitcoin Trust (6,991,248 shares)
$79.5 million Fidelity Bitcoin ETF (1,516,302 shares)
$35.1 million Grayscale BTC (660,183 shares)
$56.1 million…

— MacroScope (@MacroScope17) August 13, 2024

Goldman Sachs’ holdings reveal that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has been a flow-gathering standout among institutional investors. Per reports, about one-fifth of BlackRock’s ETF net inflows during Q1 went into the firm’s spot bitcoin ETF.

Nate Geraci, president at the ETF Store wrote that iShares Bitcoin ETF “has taken in approx $20.5 billion this year.”

iShares Bitcoin ETF has taken in approx $20.5bil this yr…

Out of *all* 375 new ETF launches in 2024, next closest non-spot btc ETF = $1.3bil.

Numbers are comical at this point.

Spot btc ETFs (IBIT, FBTC, ARKB, BITB) = top 4 launches of 2024.

Global X Russell 2000 ETF = 5th.

— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) August 14, 2024

According to Adam Gould, global head of equities at Tradeweb, months following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, market makers and institutional investors lined up in force to price these ETFs and gain exposure to these assets.

“On the Tradeweb platform, BlackRock’s IBIT ETF reached an average daily volume of $4.2 million in the first six months,” he wrote in a blog.

Goldman Sachs Did Not Believe in Crypto

The large spot Bitcoin ETF holdings come in contrast to Goldman Sachs’ previous disinterest in cryptos. The Wall Street bank was initially skeptical about cryptocurrencies as it’s clients were not interested in these asset class.

Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, chief investment officer of the bank’s Wealth Management unit, said that the bank “do not think it is an investment asset class.” In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in April, she said, “We’re not believers in crypto.”

Further, she added Goldman Sachs’ clients are well aware of her team’s crypto criticisms and haven’t asked about jumping in.

However, other financial behemoths have been exploring the nascent industry. For instance, Citigroup announced that it used Avalanche to explore the tokenization of private equity funds to re-architect capital markets.