BlackRock’s Strategic Income Opportunities Fund Invests in Bitcoin ETF
One of the funds, BlackRock’s Strategic Income Opportunities Fund, holds assets worth over $37.4 billion.
In the first quarter, BlackRock’s income and bond-focused funds acquired shares of the asset manager’s own spot Bitcoin BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF), as revealed by regulatory filings.
The BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (BSIIX) purchased $3.56 million worth of iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) shares, while the Strategic Global Bond Fund (MAWIX) bought $485,000 worth, according to May 28 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These investments represent a small portion of the BSIIX and MAWIX portfolios, which are valued at $37.4 billion and $776.4 million, respectively.
The purchase involved 88,000 IBIT shares for the Strategic Income Opportunities Fund. As of May 24, IBIT holds $19.61 billion in Bitcoin, based on BlackRock data.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust is second only to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which held $19.76 billion as of May 28, according to Grayscale data.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs worldwide now control over 1 million Bitcoin, valued at over $68 billion, representing nearly 5.10% of the total 19.7 million BTC circulating supply, per CoinGecko.
Since their launch in January, more than 600 U.S. investment firms have acquired spot Bitcoin ETFs, according to recent SEC filings.
Notable firms such as Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Royal Bank of Canada, BNP Paribas, UBS, and hedge funds like Millennium Management and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors have been significant buyers of Bitcoin funds.
Millennium Management is the largest spot Bitcoin ETF investor, with $1.9 billion invested, including $844.2 million in IBIT and $806.7 million in the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).
Additionally, on May 23, BlackRock was among eight firms to have its spot Ether (ETH) ETF application approved in the U.S., pending SEC approval of Form S-1 filings for these products to begin trading.
Featured image from: cointelegraph.com