UBS, Tudor Investment Increase Bitcoin ETF Exposure in Q2

UBS, Tudor Investment Increase Bitcoin ETF Exposure in Q2

Mon, August 17, 2026 at 6:23 PM GMT+3 2 min read

Swiss multinational investment bank UBS (NYSE: $UBS) and Tudor Investment, a hedge fund firm founded by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones, both increased their exposure to BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF in the second quarter of the year.

UBS reported calls tied to 1.95 million underlying IBIT shares as of June 30, up from 80,000 three months earlier, a more than 24-fold increase, according to a regulatory filing on Friday. Its direct IBIT holdings also rose 12% to 407,890 shares, worth about $13.6 million at the end of the quarter.

At the same time, the banking giant's put exposure fell 53% to 143,300 shares. The filing does not disclose the options' strike prices or expiration dates.

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Meanwhile, Tudor Investment increased its IBIT holdings by 18.9% to 688,529 shares, worth about $22.9 million, according to a 13F filing submitted last week. The purchase marks a reversal after the firm reduced its position throughout 2025.

Tudor also cut its IBIT call exposure by about 85%, from the equivalent of 998,000 shares to 148,000 shares, while its put position was largely unchanged. The shift suggests the firm is relying more on direct ETF exposure, although the filing does not reveal the full strategy behind the trades.

More banks and investment firms have increased their exposure to crypto investment products in the second quarter despite Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: $BTC) price decline.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: $MS) raised its IBIT holdings 23% to 16.5 million shares and increased its Fidelity Bitcoin ETF position by nearly 38%. It also lifted its Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) exposure, with its BlackRock Ethereum ETF holdings jumping 202% to 4.6 million shares, and added positions in two Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) ETFs.

JPMorgan (NYSE: $JPM) also expanded its crypto holdings, raising its IBIT position to 10.4 million shares from 8.3 million and increasing its BlackRock Ethereum ETF holdings more than fourfold to 1.17 million shares.