Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan believes institutions will allocate between 1% and 5% of their investment portfolios to Bitcoin ETFs over the next 6 months.
Hougan published an investor note this week, assuring that institutional investor interest and confidence in Bitcoin will continue to grow as spot ETFs gain wider adoption.
As he said in the note, the current allocations that financial institutions and corporate investors have been making to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds only represent a “down payment” and these are expected to increase significantly in the medium term.
The Bitwise CIO also highlighted that the launch of cryptocurrency spot ETFs have been a total successThese investment instruments have attracted more than $11.700 billion since their approval and launch in January, making them The most popular ETF launch of all time, Hougan said.
13F filings and Matt Hougan's optimism
The CIO of Bitwise stressed that Bitcoin ETFs are driving the massive entry of institutional investors into the Bitcoin market. He noted that these financial investment instruments provide a regulated avenue, which is opening the door for professional investors to “buy bitcoin en masse,” which is dramatically increasing the pool of capital investing in the cryptocurrency.
The 13F filings for the first quarter of this year, which institutional investors must file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), expose the massive participation they have had in the Bitcoin market.
Prior to these filings, Hougan said it was impossible to know who was buying shares in Bitcoin ETFs, as investors typically use brokerage accounts to buy into the ETFs. However, the SEC's holdings report that investors with more than $100 million in assets under management have revealed that many currently own Bitcoin ETFs.
As investors flock to the Bitcoin market, Hougan is increasingly optimistic about the cryptocurrency's promising future in the financial landscape.
More than 500 institutional investors own Bitcoin ETFs
SEC 13F filings revealed that as of May 12, a total of 563 professional investment firms held stakes in U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs. As of that date, these professional investment firms had allocated a total of $3.500 billion to their fund allocations, Hougan said.
However, despite this already being a fairly significant number, considering that these ETFs have been listed on stock exchanges for just under half a year, Hougan believed that by the close of 13F filings, investors with stakes in Bitcoin ETFs could number 700, while the allocated funds could exceed $5.000 billion.
Recently, Millennium Management was revealed as the largest investor in Bitcoin ETFs, with an allocation of $1.942 billion across five Bitcoin funds, including BlackRock's. Also, Susquehanna International Group revealed itself this month as one of the largest investors in spot ETFs, with a stake of more than $5 billion in these exchange-traded funds.
More successful than gold ETFs
On these holdings, Hougan stressed that most ETFs attract very few 13F filers in their first few months on the market. However, Bitcoin is proving to be an asset highly coveted and desirable, which is why it has managed to attract a fairly significant number of institutional investors in its first few months.
Compared to this, gold ETFs, which were considered the most successful exchange-traded fund launch to date, attracted $1.000 billion in their first week of trading and a total of 95 13F filers in the first quarter on the market.
“From an ownership perspective, bitcoin ETFs are a historic success story,” Hougan said.
Equal opportunities for retail and institutional investors
Finally, Bitwise's CIO highlighted that Bitcoin spot ETFs are not only opening up new possibilities for institutional and corporate investors, but also for retail investors, who currently own the majority of these funds' assets.
“Retail investors have a lot of money invested in Bitcoin ETFs, and that’s a wonderful thing. It means they can access these investments on the same terms as the world’s largest institutions,” he pointed Hougan.
However, he also stressed that financial institutions are following a traditional pattern in the investment world, which could indicate that they are preparing for an increase in allocations to Bitcoin ETFs in the coming months.
IMPORTANT: The content of this article is for informational purposes only and, in no case, what is written here should be taken as investment advice or recommendations. Bit2Me News reminds you that before making any investment you should educate yourself and know where you invest your money, as well as the pros and cons of the system. We separate ourselves from the actions and consequences that ignorance may entail. If you decide to invest in this or another asset class, you are solely responsible for the consequences that your decisions and actions may have.
Note: This article has been modified to clarify that Matt Hougan is the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Bitwise
