Summary
- Tudor Investment has boosted its holdings in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) to 688,529 shares, valued at approximately $22.9 million as of June 30, representing an 18.9% increase from the previous quarter, according to their latest 13F filing.
- The firm significantly reduced its call options for IBIT by about 85%, while maintaining its put options, indicating a shift from leveraged strategies to more straightforward spot investments; however, this stake is still substantially lower than its peak of over 8 million shares in late 2024.
- This acquisition aligns with a resurgence of interest in institutional ETFs, especially from advocates of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.
Tudor Investment, the hedge fund established by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, has recently increased its investment in BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, marking a reversal after a year of divestment.
As of June 30, the Connecticut-based firm owned 688,529 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust, equating to about $22.9 million, as revealed in a 13F filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14.
This represents an 18.9% increase from the 579,083 shares reported at the end of March, adding 109,446 shares to their portfolio.
Though this increase is modest relative to Tudor's total assets, which exceed $100 billion, it constitutes only a small fraction of their overall 13F holdings and remains significantly lower than the firm’s peak of over 8 million IBIT shares, valued at around $427 million, which it had reduced through 2025.
Nonetheless, this shift is seen as a significant indicator of one of Wall Street's most scrutinized traders returning to a buying position.
The filing also indicated a strategic change in how Tudor holds its Bitcoin exposure. The firm dramatically cut its call options related to IBIT by roughly 85%, reducing them to the equivalent of 148,000 underlying shares from 998,000, while its put positions remained largely unchanged. This transition from options to direct shares suggests a move away from leveraged investments towards more conventional spot exposure, although the filing does not specify strike prices or expiration dates, leaving the complete strategy ambiguous.
Jones has consistently advocated for Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, a perspective he introduced in a 2020 market note and has reiterated, positioning the cryptocurrency as a safeguard against currency devaluation and, at times, as a hedge against geopolitical instability.
This buying activity coincides with a renewed wave of institutional interest in ETFs. Recently, these funds have attracted hundreds of millions in inflows over just five days as market expectations for interest rate hikes have diminished. IBIT continues to lead the sector, holding approximately 49% of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market share.