(Kitco News) – Institutional adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to grow following the launch of the first U.S.-listed BTC exchange-traded funds (ETF) in January. Now a major university’s endowment fund has disclosed a significant stake in the ETFs, with others expected to follow suit.
An October regulatory filing from Emory University shows the school’s endowment fund has accumulated more than $15 million worth of Bitcoin ETF shares, making it the first college endowment to report holding shares in a BTC ETF, according to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
The filing shows Emory holds nearly 2.7 million Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (GBTC) shares worth nearly $16.26 million.
Emory joins the growing list of institutional funds investing in Bitcoin, including the State of Michigan Retirement System, which previously reported investments in a spot Bitcoin ETF offered by ARK 21Shares worth approximately $6.6 million at the time of purchase.
Other filings from earlier in Q1 2024 have shown a variety of investors – including wealth funds, family offices, and banks – have also allocated a portion of their portfolios to various Bitcoin ETFs. This includes investments by South State Bank ($34 billion AUM), Park Avenue Securities LLC ($9.9 billion AUM), Inscription Capital LLC ($1.3 billion AUM), Wedmonth Private Capital ($1 billion AUM), and American Nation Banks ($637 million AUM).
According to Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, crypto funds accounted for 13 of the 25 largest ETF launches in 2024 by inflows through August, and Bitcoin has dominated the ETF landscape, accounting for six of the top 10 most successful launches in 2024.
BlackRock’s IBIT “has taken in more $$$ in past 10 trading days than all but 2 ETF launches have taken in *all year* (out of 575+ new ETFs in 2024),” Geraci wrote on Friday. “Those other 2 ETFs are both spot BTC ETFs (not incl IBIT itself). $2.3bil in 10 trading days. Many ‘prognosticators’ didn't think *all* of the spot BTC ETFs would take in $2.3bil for the *entire yr*... Now over $22bil, with no Vanguard access [and] many of the major wirehouse platforms still gated.”
A recent Binance Research report shows that more than 1,200 institutions now hold Bitcoin ETFs, which have enjoyed an adoption rate that far outpaces that of early gold ETFs, which saw only 95 institutional investors within their first year.
With growing demand from both retail and institutional investors, U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs now hold more than 938,700 Bitcoins combined, worth approximately $63.3 billion in assets under management and representing 5.2% of Bitcoin’s total supply.
“Non-institutional investors account for 80% of BTC ETF demand, while institutional holdings have risen by 30% since Q1,” the report said. “Investment advisors saw the most significant growth, with holdings increasing by 44.2% to 71.8K BTC. Though fully expanding BTC ETF access across broker-dealers, banks, and advisors may take several years, this gradual process is expected to drive broader adoption over the medium term.”
“With spot BTC ETFs now making up an average of 26.4% of BTC spot volume (peaking at 62.6%), they are driving second-order effects like increased Bitcoin dominance, improved market efficiency, and reduced volatility,” Binance said. “While still early, this liquidity and validation are supporting broader adoption, drawing more venture capital interest, market inclusion and expanding the on-chain footprint.”
“Strong demand is driving the expansion of crypto ETF products across global markets, while options, potential staking yield inclusion, and new asset ETFs remain in early phases,” they added. “Collectively, these developments aim to boost liquidity and adoption, but evolving regulatory frameworks will be key in shaping the success of these innovations.”
The latest Digital Asset Fund Flows report from CoinShares shows that demand for crypto assets is starting to surge, with last week seeing $901 million worth of inflows, which pushed the year-to-date inflows to $27 billion, nearly triple the 2021 record.
Bitcoin actually recorded $920 million in inflows during the week, but the overall total decreased due to $34.7 million being withdrawn from Ethereum (ETH) ETFs.
Still, the total inflows for the month of October represent 12% of total assets under management, CoinShares noted, “making it the 4th largest month of inflows on record. Total inflows this year now total US$27bn, nearly triple the 2021 record, with inflows of US$10.5bn.”
According to Binance, “macroeconomic conditions and policy are increasingly shaping crypto markets, making macro indicators crucial as they impact flow dynamics, institutional buy-in, and future scope of products like crypto ETFs.”
That said, they noted that “sustained growth will require capital inflows beyond BTC ETFs, emphasizing the need to track crypto market catalysts as well.”
“As blockchain-native products expand, they are likely to encourage on-chain adoption and draw more investment into BTC, ETH, and the wider crypto ecosystem,” the report concluded.
Looking long-term, Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, projects that Bitcoin could hit $3 million by 2050 as it becomes a widely held and increasingly scarce reserve asset.
“We have a model that assumes that by 2050, this is a very long term, Bitcoin becomes a reserve asset that’s used in global trade and held by global central banks at a very modest 2% weight,” Sigel said in a recent interview with CNBC. “And in that model, we arrive at a $3 million dollar price target for Bitcoin.”
“That sounds extreme, but that’s a 16% compound annual growth rate for a couple of decades…that’s not really that extreme,” he added. “So into the millions over the medium term is a high conviction call.”
