Lauren Gibbons
2 min read
In This Article:
Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala has expanded its position in the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) in the latest example of institutions increasingly turning to non-traditional exposures wrapped in an ETF.
According to its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mubadala has $408.5 million currently invested in the $67.9 billion Bitcoin ETF, which is a 6% increase from the previous quarter.
Riverview Capital Advisers and Focus Partners Wealth have also been using IBIT, further highlighting institutional uptake, with Riverview buying IBIT in the final quarter of 2024.
Meanwhile, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board, which manages assets for the Wisconsin Retirement System and other state-managed funds, exited its position from IBIT by withdrawing $321.5 million from the flagship exposure.
The entering and exiting of positions from institutions highlights how asset owners are accessing the less correlated returns offered by Bitcoin, when offered through an ETF wrapper with architecture developed by several traditional finance counterparties, including BlackRock, BNY Mellon and JPMorgan Securities Services.
IBIT was one of the first to launch in the U.S. after the SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024.
More broadly, ETFs are increasingly being adopted as an investment vehicle among institutions, particularly in exposures where ETFs are among the first traditional wrappers offering access.
Invesco secured record-breaking seed funding for an ETF from Finnish pension insurer Varma last year, receiving $2.4 billion in funding for the U.S.-listed Invesco MSCI Global North America Climate ETF (KLMN).
In addition, there is a strong appetite from pension funds and insurance companies for UCITS ETFs, with these investors contributing to a quarter of BlackRock's ETF inflows last year.
This article was originally published at etf.com sister publication ETF Stream.
