- The third-biggest bank in the US, Wells Fargo, has made an investment in one of the nation’s newest Bitcoin ETF offerings.
- A 13F-HR form filed on Friday states that as of March 31, the bank has exposure totaling $143 million spread across three distinct Bitcoin investment products.
The great majority of those funds were invested in shares of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) whose shares are intended to mirror the spot price of Bitcoin during regular business hours.
A set amount of Bitcoin is immediately backed by the fund for each share; but, over time, this amount gradually decreases because of management expenses.
The other two Bitcoin-related investments include a $1.2 million stake in the Bitcoin futures ETF ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and a $99,000 holding in the Bitcoin ATM operator Bitcoin Depot.
The entire holding has probably decreased along with the price of Bitcoin since the reporting period and only makes up a small portion of Wells Fargo’s $603 billion in assets under management.
The bank’s allocation has been praised by the cryptocurrency community as a significant step toward institutional Bitcoin acceptance.
The same bank temporarily outlawed the purchase of cryptocurrency using credit cards back in 2018, but its experts eventually realized that Bitcoin will see rapid adoption growth and price gain in the years to come.
In February, Wells Fargo started providing Bitcoin ETFs as an investing option to customers who specifically asked for the product. U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs have taken in $11.8 billion in net inflows since their January inception.
In recent weeks, significant investments in Bitcoin ETFs have also been revealed by other prominent financial organizations. Susquehanna International Group, an investment firm with $438 billion AUM and $1.8 billion in Bitcoin ETFs, is now the largest known owner of the products.
It’s interesting to note that of all its rivals, GBTC is the most expensive, and both Wells Fargo and Susquehanna made the largest investments in it. The fund’s annual management costs are 1.5%, while the majority of its competitors, including BlackRock and Fidelity, only charge 0.3%.
Thanks to its pre-ETF debut Bitcoin stack, Grayscale is currently, albeit narrowly, the largest Bitcoin ETF. Since January 11, the fund has experienced practically constant withdrawals.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
