Hightower Advisors disclosed a $68 million investment in the Spot Bitcoin ETF in a May 6 filing.
According to the 13F filing, the company acquired 709,956 shares of Grayscale’s GBTC stock (valued at $44.8 million), 200,84 shares of FBTC stock (valued at $12.4 million), and 188,397 shares of BlackRock’s IBIT stock (valued at $7.6 million). ), Ark Invest owns 23,964 ARKB shares (valued at $1.7 million).
It also revealed two smaller investments: 25,449 shares of Bitwise’s BITB worth $988,000 and 19,129 shares of Franklin Templeton’s EZBC worth $788,000.
Mr. Hightower’s investments in six Spot Bitcoin ETFs represent a small portion of the $61.7 billion total disclosed in the latest filing.
SouthState acquires GBTC and IBIT
Another financial institution, South State Bank, disclosed investments in two Bitcoin Spot ETFs worth a total of $577,198 through a 13F filing.
The firm reported 6,606 shares of Grayscale’s GBTC stock (valued at $417,301) and 3,951 shares of BlackRock’s IBIT stock (valued at $159,897).
South State Bank’s Spot Bitcoin ETF investments represent a small portion of the total $1.3 billion reported in the filing.
Institutional investors continue to invest
Each filing represents the continued entry of institutional investors into the Spot Bitcoin ETF market.
Hightower is one of the largest U.S.-based registered investment advisors and asset management firms, with $130 billion in assets under management (AUM).
SouthState Bank is a Florida-based bank. After merging with CenterState Bank, the companies had combined assets under management of $34 billion.
The latest report was released following several other similar filings. BNP Paribas, a major French bank, announced its investment in IBIT on May 2nd. Burkett Financial Services reported investments in April, and Legacy Wealth Asset Management and others also reported investments in the same month.
Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, predicted that financial institutions will increase their investments in and trades in spot Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months. Various recent disclosures from financial institutions support his claims.
The Spot Bitcoin ETF currently has $53 billion in assets under management.
