Author: Sam Callahan, Bitcoin analyst; Translated by: Golden Finance xiaozou

I have about 8,200 copies The 13F file was carefully studied and according to my statistics, 1,573 institutions held long positions in Bitcoin in the fourth quarter of 2024.

These institutions include banks, hedge funds, registered investment advisors (RIAs), family offices, endowments, pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and other asset management companies.

The following are some of my main findings:

Before the in-depth discussion, I want to Let me first explain what the 13F file is.

What is 13F file

Each quarter, large investment companies (with assets under management of more than $100 million) must submit 13F file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Disclose its holdings of U.S. stocks and stock-related assets such as ETFs, real estate investment trusts (REITs), options and convertible bonds.

It is important to know that the 13F file only contains long positions in the company's assets related to U.S. stocks. Therefore, the 13F document does not include assets such as bonds, real estate, commodities, precious metals, private equity investments (hedge funds, venture capital, etc.), futures, spot Bitcoin, cash, foreign stocks/currencies, and short positions. That is to say, the 13F document does not fully reflect the company's overall investment portfolio. We cannot know the company's positions in asset classes other than U.S. stock-related assets, nor can we determine whether long positions are merely intended to hedge short positions elsewhere.

I mentioned this because I will discuss the size of the Bitcoin position in these documents - but please note that these data only reflect the company's stock in the United States Configuration in related assets. In fact, assuming they also invest in other asset classes, their actual Bitcoin position size may be smaller. A good example is: Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund recently disclosed its $IBIT (Bitcoin ETF) position – this is so far One of the most exciting 13F files. Bitcoin is the fund's second largest position with an exposure of approximately $437 million. But the key is... this 13F document onlyThe fund's total AUM was sued for $20 billion, while the fund's actual total AUM was $302 billion. In other words, the 13F file only accounts for about 6.6% of the fund's total holdings. This is reasonable because the fund invests in a wide range of asset classes around the world, far more than just U.S. stocks. So, in reality, Bitcoin is only 0.1% of the fund's total portfolio, not 2.1%—but even so, it's still a significant positive progress.

With this in mind, the median bitcoin positions of all institutions in these 13F files The number is only 0.13%. It's very small...but the prospect is optimistic. This suggests that Bitcoin is still in its early stages of institutional adoption. One thing to note: BlackRock recently recommended configuring 1-2% of Bitcoin.

But there are also some investment companies that have higher allocation ratios to Bitcoin than their peers—and These companies happen to be managed by some top fund managers with outstanding performance.

The following are some of the most interesting 13F files that caught my attention...

Some interesting findings

(1)Horizon Kinetics

Bitcoin is Horizon Kinetics' second largest position (16.16%), with an exposure of approximately US$1.3 billion. The company is managed by Murray Stahl, an outstanding figure in the investment world. In the fourth quarter market reviews, they explained why Bitcoin positions were not adjusted.

(2) Bracebridge Capital

Its largest position is Bitcoin (23.6%), with an exposure of approximately $334 million. The company, led by Nancy Zimmerman, manages funds for foundations, pension funds, high net worth individuals, and manages some of the assets of two of the best-performing endowments in the past 20 years - Yale and Princeton.

(3) TudorInvestment Corp

Tudor's largest position is Bitcoin (1.625%), with an exposure of approximately $436 million. This document has attracted some attention for a good reason. Paul Tudor Jones is one of his generation's greatest investors. Last month, he talked about why he now holds Bitcoin.

(4) Fortress Investment Group

Bitcoin is its fourth largest position (11.2%) with an exposure of approximately $70 million. Note: Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala acquired 68% of Fortress's shares last year and became its major shareholder. So, this is really just more exposure to Bitcoin from the UAE.

(5) Brevan Howard

Bitcoin is its second largest position (8.74%) with an exposure of approximately $1.4 billion. Brevan Howard has been a long Bitcoin leader for many years. This large macro fund has a lot of experience in holding assets. Bitcoin fell 50% during the 2022 bear market, and billionaire Alan Howard made the following comments.

(6)Discovery Capital

Management Bitcoin is its fifth largest position (4.6%) with an exposure of approximately $68 million. Discovery is led by Robert Citrone, who has worked with Julian Robertson and George Soros and is a secondary shareholder of Pittsburgh Steelers. He explained why he focused on Bitcoin.

(7) Jericho Capital

BitcoinIt is its fifth largest position (5.4%) with an exposure of approximately US$378 million. Jericho, led by Josh Resnick, performed very well – from $36 million in 2009 to more than $7 billion in management today. Guess who he worked with in his early career.

(8) Hudson Bay Capital Management

The company holds a 0.15% Bitcoin position with an exposure of approximately $44 million. But what you may not know is that the infamous Bitcoin short seller Nouriel Roubini is a senior consultant to the company. Fortunately, they did not follow his advice on Bitcoin.

(9) Wisconsin Investment Commission

Breaking news is that the state's pension funds' Bitcoin positions have more than tripled compared to the previous quarter. Second quarter: USD 99 million, 2898,051 shares (0.26%); Third quarter: USD 104 million, 2889,251 shares (0.26%); Fourth quarter: USD 321 million, 6,060,351 shares (0.82%).

(10) Michigan Retirement System

But Wisconsin is not the only one…Michigan pension fund's Bitcoin position has almost doubled. Second quarter: $6.6 million, 110,000 shares (0.03%); Third quarter: $6.9 million, 110,000 shares (0.03%); Fourth quarter: $9.3 million, 100,000 shares (0.05%). Although it is still small, it has been growing.

(11) Emory University

Its second largest position is Bitcoin (32.3%) with an exposure of $22 million. The endowment's Bitcoin position size has not changed compared to the previous quarter, meaning that although the Bitcoin position is currently up about 50%, it is not a majorDynamic adjustment. Emory University chose to continue holding.

(12) Pine Ridge Advisors

Its second largest position is Bitcoin (18.4%) with an exposure of $209 million. I don't know much about this company, but I mention it because for a family office of this size, it has very centralized configurations. This is their entire website, then you know they are legal.

(13)Capula Management

Bitcoin is its second largest position (5.4%) with an exposure of approximately $936 million. The fourth largest hedge fund in Europe is led by Yan Huo, former head of fixed income trading at JPMorgan Chase. What is their center of gravity? Innovative, irrelevant strategies. No wonder they do a long bitcoin.

(14) Cresset Asset Management

This is one of the largest and highest ranking independent RIAs in the United States (registered investment consulting company), and Bitcoin is one of its top 30 positions. Cresset is increasing its Bitcoin position every quarter. Second quarter: US$33.7 million (0.14%); Third quarter: US$53.9 million (0.21%); Fourth quarter: US$107.5 million (0.51%).

(15) Some other companies and banks

You may have noticed that some of the major companies that hold large bitcoin ETF positions I haven't mentioned yet, they are:

Millennium ($2.6 billion, 1.28%)

Jane Street ($2.4 billion, 0.52%)

Susquehanna ($1 billion, 0.16%)

DE Shaw ($869 million, 0.64%)

Citadel ($446 million, 0.08%)

Point72 ($155 million, 0.34%)

This is because these are mainly quantitative funds and market makers. Their algorithms do not care whether the code is IBIT, META, GE, SPY or TLT - they are just looking for arbitrage opportunities and market inefficiency. So, these Not a long-term holder, I suspect many companies have net neutral bitcoin positions, which makes their exposure less interesting to me. Having said that, I do appreciate them for trading in this market. They make the market more efficient by narrowing spreads, deepening order books and increasing liquidity.

Same goes for some big banks that hold positions in Bitcoin ETFs: p>

JP Morgan Chase ($964,000, 0.0001%)

Goldman Sachs ($2.3 billion, 0.37%)

Wells Fargo ($375,000, 0.0001%)

Bank of America ($24 million, 0.002%)

Morgan Stanley ($259 million, 0.02%)

Companies such as JPMorgan are authorized participants (APs) of many Bitcoin ETFs and serve as market makers. It is completely normal for APs to hold some ETF shares on their balance sheets because they are responsible for creating and redeeming them. Return to ETF share. Market makers also need to maintain inventory of ETF share to facilitate trading. By holding ETF share, they can better maintain market liquidity and efficiency and maintain accurate price of ETFs.

In addition to these approved "crypto asset activities", the Fed currently prohibits banks from holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets with their own funds.

Regulation is changing

However, with the abolition of SAB-121, the regulatory environment is changing.

Morgan Stanley stands out—it became the first in August last year Home allows financial advisers to recommend Bitcoin ETFs to clients. Goldman Sachs has also been active, providing Bitcoin exposure to wealthy clients through its asset management division for many years. But if its trading division has exposure, I guess it might be Run market-neutral arbitrage strategies, such as basis trading - meaning it is not a net long Bitcoin.

As the development of banking regulation, observe It will be interesting how these big banks adjust their positions and expand their Bitcoin participation in the coming quarters. It is worth keeping a close eye on.

What signals does the 13F document reveal? In short, these 13F files show that Bitcoin is becoming an institutional-level asset. It is now large enough and liquid enough to accommodate these investors. With new investments Tools enter the market, and these companies will have more ways to gain Bitcoin exposure, and adoption will also accelerate.

I have introduced some pioneers in this article , but we are still in the very early stages of this trend – which means there are huge opportunities in the future. Managing trillions of dollars of institutional investors is still just trying the waters in this market.

According to my research: Of the 8,190 13F documents in the last quarter, only about 19% of the companies held long exposure to Bitcoin.

As more institutions enter — or have already entered — inflows of funds may push Bitcoin to new heights and change its investor base forever.