Renowned hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones has made a significant investment in Bitcoin ETFs, investing around $160 million in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). The filing by the Tudor Investment hedge fund places the firm among the top 10 IBIT holders, according to Bloomberg data.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas called the investment “a win for Bitcoin,” noting that Jones, a respected investor, has been evaluating his options and finds ETFs to be “the best option for exposure.”
The timing of the investment comes amid renewed interest in Bitcoin following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, leading to optimism about favorable crypto regulation. Bitcoin prices have soared, reaching an all-time high above $93,000 this month.
Jones, a longtime Bitcoin advocate, has previously described BTC as a strong hedge against inflation alongside gold. He has suggested allocating 5% of investment portfolios to Bitcoin in 2020 for diversification purposes. Despite his bullish stance, current IBIT holdings represent just 1.7% of Tudor Investment’s $9 billion in assets under management.
Jones’ investment comes as hedge funds increasingly embrace market-agnostic strategies such as bitcoin basis trading, which exploits the price difference between bitcoin futures and ETFs. Last week, that difference reached 17%, a level not seen since bitcoin ETFs were launched in January.
Large institutional firms are also entering the Bitcoin ETF space. Wall Street giant Millennium remains the largest Bitcoin ETF holder in the U.S. with a $1.9 billion investment, representing 2.4% of its $70 billion in assets under management. Other notable holders include Susquehanna, Horizon Kinetics and Jane Street Group, reflecting strong institutional appetite for Bitcoin ETFs.
*This is not investment advice.