State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) Reduces Exposure to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) While Adding to Position in Blackrock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT)

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) appears to have reduced its exposure to the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund while adding to its

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) has increased its exposure to the largest Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) while apparently ditching the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

According to a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), SWIB now holds 6,060,351 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT). At current market prices, this stake is valued at over $335.3 million.

A previous filing in May showed SWIB owned 2,450,400 shares of IBIT, valued at around $140.8 million at the time. Notably, the earlier filing also showed the investment board holding 1,013,000 shares of GBTC, collectively worth about $57 million.

However, in filings submitted in November and this week, SWIB did not disclose any GBTC holdings.

The State of Wisconsin Investment Board is a state agency that manages investments for public retirement and trust funds. It has a diversified investment portfolio that includes cryptocurrency, Coinbase, Marathon Digital, Riot Platforms, Block, Cipher Mining, Cleanspark, MicroStrategy, and other traditional financial instruments.

Among Bitcoin ETFs, IBIT is the largest, with $56.38 billion in assets under management (AUM), as per data from Coinglass. Fidelity’s FBTC follows with $20.19 billion AUM, and GBTC ranks third with $19.28 billion.

The SEC finally approved the first spot market Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, leading to billions of dollars in inflows into the top digital asset by market capitalization. Subsequently, in July, the regulator also greenlit Ethereum (ETH) ETFs for trading.