Bracebridge Capital, a little-known hedge fund in Boston, has become one of the largest holders of spot Bitcoin ETFsholding hundreds of millions of dollars in assets in total, including the largest individual tallies in the BlackRock and Ark Invest/21 Shares ETFs.
“Basically, they went wild,” wrote Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas in a job on Twitter (aka X), highlighting the company's $363 million Bitcoin exposure to ETFs issued by BlackRock ($81 million), Grayscale ($20 million) and Ark Invest/21Shares ($262 million).
Excluding market makers and so-called authorized participants, who play a key role in maintaining accurate prices for spot Bitcoin ETFs through the creation and redemption of shares, Bracebridge Capital's holdings represent the “new high water mark,” Balchunas said.
Established in 1994, Bracebridge Capital has approximately $12 billion in assets under management, according to the firm. job page. Described as the world's largest women-run hedge fund in 2016, the “secret” company also manages funds from the endowments of Princeton University and Yale University, according to Bloomberg News.
A deposit The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) values Bracebridge Capital's cash Bitcoin ETF holdings at $434 million as of March, not including options. The snapshot of the company's U.S.-traded stocks in the first quarter, among other positions, came when the price of Bitcoin was near $72,000. It's now around $62,700.
Behind $300 million in Ark Invest and 21Shares' Bitcoin ETF, Bracebridge Capital said it holds $100 million in BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF and $26.5 million in Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust.
In addition to owning shares of BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, Bracebridge Capital held options on the proceeds worth $284 million at the time. Not including other spot Bitcoin ETFs, total exposure to BlackRock's product represented 47% of Bracebridge Capital's reported holdings.
Add it all up: $718 million, or 88% of the holdings reported on Bracebridge Capital's filing, include shares of spot Bitcoin ETFs or options based thereon.
A representative for Bracebridge Capital declined to comment on the company's SEC filing or the nature of its holdings. Decrypt.
Since spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved in the United States in January, Wall Street firms have allocated $11.6 billion to them, according to data from Distant investors. This figure undoubtedly includes the outsized holdings of Bracebridge Capital, but as recently revealed, those of banking giants like Wells Fargo too.