UBS, Tudor Investment Increase Bitcoin ETF Exposure in Q2

Two prominent financial institutions, UBS and Tudor Investment, both bolstered their involvement in BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF during the second quarter. UBS saw a remarkable surge in its IBIT calls, rising to 1.95 million shares, compared to 80,000 three months prior, marking a more than 24-fold increase. Additionally, UBS directly held 407,890 IBIT shares, valued at approximately $13.6 million at the end of the quarter.

Concurrently, UBS reduced its put exposure by 53% to 143,300 shares, although the strike prices and expiration dates were not disclosed in the filing.

Tudor Investment, a hedge fund founded by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, also increased its IBIT holdings by 18.9% to 688,529 shares, valued at around $22.9 million. This change came after the firm had been reducing its position throughout 2025. Tudor likewise decreased its call exposure by nearly 85%, from the equivalent of 998,000 shares to 148,000 shares, while its put position remained largely unchanged.

This shift indicates that Tudor is increasingly relying on direct ETF exposure, though the filing did not reveal the full rationale behind these trades. Despite Bitcoin's price decline, other banks and investment firms continued to expand their exposure to crypto investment products in the second quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its IBIT holdings by 23% to 16.5 million shares and expanded its Fidelity Bitcoin ETF position by nearly 38%.

JPMorgan also increased its crypto holdings, raising its IBIT position to 10.4 million shares and boosting its BlackRock Ethereum ETF holdings more than fourfold.