Barclays reported holding 3.94 million shares of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF as of Sept. 30, 2026, up 48% from the previous quarter. The third-quarter filings remain incomplete: major banks and hedge funds had yet to report, and higher dollar values do not necessarily mean investors bought more shares because ETF prices also rose.
Among 1,389 institutions that had filed, banks held $258 million in spot Bitcoin ETFs, or 4.9% of reported holdings, up from $107 million, or 3.2%, in the second quarter, according to Bitwise. Citigroup reported a new position worth about $119 million in Fidelity’s Bitcoin fund and increased its reported BlackRock ETF holdings to about 521,000 shares from 347,000. The filings show holdings as of Sept. 30, before Bitcoin’s subsequent decline and spot ETF outflows.
