Point72, the $34 billion hedge fund of billionaire and owner of the New York Mets, Steven Cohen, held $77.5 million of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) as of the close of the first quarter, according to a filing.
This follows several other hedge funds who have disclosed that they purchased shares of the spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds, including Paul Singer's Elliott Capital and Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, with the latter being the biggest institutional holder of the new funds with roughly $2 billion as of March 31.
Out of the top 25 hedge funds in the U.S., 13 of them bought into the ETFs in the first quarter, according to data compiled by bitcoin brokerage firm River. Among them, in addition to the names mentioned earlier, were Fortress Investment Group and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors.
While hedge fund purchases of the spot ETFs might be a long-term bet on "number go up," these vehicles could be bought for other reasons, market making, hedging, yield generation, or for a short-term flip, to name a few.
Edited by Stephen Alpher.