Barclays Raises IBIT Stake 48% as Citigroup Discloses $119 Million Bitcoin ETF Position

Barclays increased its stake in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETF by 48% in the third quarter, while early bank filings showed $258 million in spot Bitcoin ETF holdings.

The bank held 3.94 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) on Sept. 30, valued at about $187 million. At June 30, it held 2.66 million shares worth $88.5 million. The share count increase shows the growth in units held, while the dollar value also reflects changes in IBIT’s price.

Citigroup disclosed a new position worth about $119 million in Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). Its IBIT holdings rose 50%, to about 521,000 shares from 347,000 at the end of June.

Banks accounted for $258 million, or 4.9%, of reported spot Bitcoin ETF holdings among early third-quarter filers, compared with $107 million, or 3.2%, in the previous quarter. For the 1,389 institutions that had filed third-quarter reports by Friday, combined spot Bitcoin exchange-traded product holdings totaled $5.25 billion, up from $3.35 billion.

Investment advisers remained the largest holder group, with $3.5 billion, or 66.6%, of reported positions. Their holdings were $2.2 billion in the previous quarter. Across the same set of filers, the combined dollar value of spot Bitcoin ETF holdings rose, but that total alone does not show how many shares institutions added.

IBIT’s price gained about 41% during the third quarter. “It’s important to look at the holdings in shares and not just the increase in dollar amount,” said Jonatan Randin, senior market analyst at PrimeXBT.

The filings show positions as of Sept. 30, before Bitcoin’s later decline and spot ETF outflows.

JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Millennium and Schonfeld were among major holders yet to disclose third-quarter positions ahead of Monday’s filing deadline. The disclosures are a date-specific snapshot, rather than a live measure of holdings.