Professional Investors’ Dominance in U.S. Spot BTC ETFs Declines

Professional investors’ dominance in U.S. spot BTC ETFs decreased in the last quarter. In 2024, retail sold 525K BTC, while funds, ETFs, and businesses bought 893K BTC.

Institutional ownership in Bitcoin ETF assets tripled in the last quarter. According to asset manager Bitwise, institutions owned 28% of Bitcoin ETF assets, worth $38.7B, as of Q4 2024.

In contrast, big players owned only $12.4B in Q3 2024, indicating a declining trend in retail market share concerning BTC ETFs.

According to Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise, institutional ownership in BTC ETFs could rise to 40% by the end of 2025.

> “Professional investors now own 28% of Bitcoin ETF assets, up from 17% in Q3. This will be north of 40% by year-end.”

BTC vs. Gold

Bloomberg ETF’s Eric Balchunas echoed Hougan’s prediction, noting that a 40% institutional dominance in BTC ETFs could resemble that of gold market share. He stated,

> “Institutional adoption of the bitcoin ETFs tripled in Q4 to $38B, and the percentage of assets claimed by 13F filers is up to 25-30% for most. For context, $GLD is 40%, and I think these will end up similar.”

The pace of BTC offloading by retail while institutions accumulate further supports this projection. According to crypto trading platform River, ETFs, funds, and businesses acquired 893K BTC in 2024. In contrast, this amount of BTC was sold by governments and individuals, particularly with individuals selling 525K BTC last year.

ETF data tracked by SoSo Value revealed that U.S. spot ETF products had $114.44B in total net assets as of early 2025.

This sustained institutional growth is attributed to the second phase of BTC ETF adoption, with wirehouses like Morgan Stanley beginning to recommend these products to their risk-tolerant wealthy clients last August.

However, it remains to be seen how continued institutional growth in BTC ETFs will align with centralization concerns.

As of press time, BTC was valued at $95.6K, remaining within the $90K-$110K price range.