Second-Largest European Bank BNP Paribas Bought BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Shares: SEC Filing

Multinational bank BNP Paribas purchased shares in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), based on an application 13F filing using the U.S. Registration (SEC).

Based on the firm’s 13F report filed May 1, BNP Paribas purchased 1,030 IBIT shares within the first quarter of 2024 at $40.47 a share, for as many as $41,684.10—less than the need for just one Bitcoin, at current prices.

The second-largest bank in Europe by assets, BNP Paribas has allotted a comparitively tiny part of its investment portfolio to IBIT. Nonetheless, it marks among the first verified occasions which a significant lender has purchased shares of the place Bitcoin ETF—at least partly validating the thesis that institutional investors could be attracted to Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Institutional investment managers with a minimum of $100 million price of assets in their discretion are needed to submit quarterly 13F reports towards the Registration. Banks and fund managers have as much as 45 days following a quarter ends to submit their reports. Which includes foreign banks, like BNP Paribas, when they transact within the U.S., like buying ETFs from American issuers.

A Goldman Sachs report printed soon after the U.S. SEC approved multiple place Bitcoin ETFs in The month of january cautioned that, “Time for you to market and demand across institutional investors might not be immediate.”

That argument was maintained by Matt Hougan, CIO of crypto index fund manager Bitwise, who noticed that, “The the fact is, best investors still cannot buy bitcoin ETFs,” adding that, “That can change through a number of 100+ individual research processes within the next 2 yrs.”

Since their launch in The month of january, Bitcoin ETFs have attracted in $11.2 billion in internet inflows, per data from Farside Investors, despite over $17.4 billion in outflows in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

In recent days, Bitcoin ETFs have experienced consistent outflows, with more than $563 million in internet outflows yesterday alone. The money outs came because the U.S. Fed elected to keep rates of interest unchanged, causing investors to be put off by risk assets like stocks and crypto.

BNP Paribas’ decision to purchase Bitcoin ETFs represents something of the about-face.

In September 2022, Sandro Pierri, mind of fund management group BNP Paribas Asset Management, stated that, “We’re not involved with cryptocurrencies so we don’t wish to be engaged,” adding the firm had “not heard significant interest” in crypto from the clientele.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

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