State of Wisconsin investment board dumps entire Bitcoin ETF holdings

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board sold its entire six million share position valued at roughly $355.6M in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the first three months of 2025. Wisconsin previously fully exited its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) position worth $63.7M.

The most recent U.S. SEC filing revealed that SWIB was one of the high-profile asset managers who cut their stakes in spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) during Q1 of 2025. The Wisconsin Investment Board reported no spot Bitcoin ETF positions in its 13F filing to the U.S. SEC on May 15, having liquidated all 6,060,351 IBIT holdings from the previous quarter’s report. 

SWIB previously reported managing more than $166 billion worth of assets at the end of 2024, with Bitcoin ETFs representing around 0.2% of its entire portfolio before it sold them off. The mass sell-off came only a quarter after SWIB reported purchasing additional IBIT shares in Q4 of 2024 and reallocating all 1M shares held in GBTC to IBIT.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors juggle BTC ETFs

Recent regulatory filings disclosed that many high-profile asset managers cut their stakes in spot Bitcoin ETFs as BTC saw a 12% decline in the first quarter of 2025. However, Bitwise Asset Manager CIO Matt Hougan said hedge funds seeking to profit from the spread between spot and futures prices could capture annualized yields in the region of 15%.

Millennium Management cut its IBIT holdings by 41% to 17.6 million shares and exited its position in the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF. Meanwhile, Jersey-based Brevan Howard trimmed its stake in the iShares ETF by 15.6%. 

However, Millennium Management increased its stake in two ETFs, boosting its holdings of the ARK 21 Shares Bitcoin ETF and the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund also added to its holdings of IBIT shares, bringing its total position to 8,726,972 shares, valued at $408.5 million at the end of March and over $512 million at current prices.

“What we witnessed in the first quarter was the collapse of the premium that people were paying for bitcoin futures, which had set up a very lucrative basis trade … But that premium collapsed and reached its nadir around the end of March … So I’m not surprised to see hedge funds trim their holdings.”

–Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise

Brown University also made its first charge into crypto ETF ownership during the same quarter, acquiring a stake in IBIT worth $4.9 million.

Farside data reveals sharp swings in spot Bitcoin ETF netflows

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a sharp flow reversal between May 13 and May 14. On May 13, the ETFs posted a net outflow of $91.4 million, the largest daily withdrawal since April 30. The losses were entirely driven by Fidelity’s FBTC, which recorded $91.4 million in redemptions with no offsetting inflows across other issuers.

However, the trend shifted on May 14 as spot Bitcoin ETFs brought in $319.5 million in net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT led the day with $232.9 million of new capital, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC at $36.1 million and smaller positive contributions from Bitwise’s BITB, Ark’s ARKB, and Valkyrie’s BRRR. Grayscale’s GBTC also saw a modest inflow of $35.2 million, marking a notable break from its usual pattern of daily outflows.

The $319.5 million inflow on May 14 erased much of the negative impact from the previous session and kept the broader monthly flows mostly positive. It also marked one of the strongest daily performances in May so far.

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