Goldman Sachs boosts Ethereum ETF holdings by 2,000%, Bitcoin ETFs to $1.5B

Investment bank Goldman Sachs increased its spot Ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings by 2,000% in the fourth quarter of 2024, along with boosting its Bitcoin ETF stash to over $1.5 billion.

Goldman upped its Ether (ETH $2,600) ETF exposure from $22 million to $476 million, split almost evenly between BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) and the Fidelity Ethereum Fund (FETH), along with $6.3 million into the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHE), according to the company’s Feb. 11 Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Goldman also upped its Bitcoin (BTC $95,817) ETF holdings by 114% to $1.52 billion. It purchased nearly $1.28 billion worth of shares in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) — a 177% increase from Q3 — along with $288 million worth of shares in the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).

Goldman reported in Q4 that it owned $234.7 million worth of Fidelity’s Ether ETF. Source: SEC

The document — which investment managers holding over $100 million worth of securities must file each quarter — shows Goldman also owns $3.6 million worth of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

The increased exposure factored in rising market prices for BTC and ETH, which increased 41% and 26.3% from the beginning to the end of the fourth quarter, CoinGecko data shows.

Goldman also appeared to close its positions in Bitcoin ETFs from Bitwise and WisdomTree, along with joint offerings from Invesco and Galaxy, as well as ARK and 21Shares.

The larger positions build further on Goldman Sachs’ first entry into the spot crypto ETF market in the second quarter of 2024, where it disclosed purchasing $418 million worth of Bitcoin ETFs.

Goldman’s recent purchase of Bitcoin and Ether ETFs highlights the growing trend of institutional crypto adoption on Wall Street, fueled by an increasingly favorable regulatory environment.

The investment bank is also considering launching its own crypto platform for partners to trade financial instruments on blockchain rails, Bloomberg reported in November.

Goldman has, however, been criticizing Bitcoin and the broader industry since 2020, saying that crypto isn’t an asset class and that it is “not a suitable investment” for its clients.

A similar opinion was voiced by Goldman Private Wealth Management chief investment officer Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani last April, around the time Goldman purchased its first stash of Bitcoin ETFs.

“We do not think it is an investment asset class,” Mossavar-Rahmani said at the time, comparing the recent crypto enthusiasm to the tulip mania of the 1600s. “We’re not believers in crypto.”

---