The smart money can’t agree on Bitcoin. While hedge funds were sprinting for the exits in Q1, dumping 31,400 BTC worth of spot Bitcoin ETF holdings, banks were doing the exact opposite, adding 7,800 BTC and more than doubling their positions.
The data comes from CoinShares’ analysis of Q1 2026 13F filings, the mandatory quarterly disclosures that professional investors with over $100 million in assets under management must file with the SEC.
The great institutional divide
Total professional-investor holdings in US spot Bitcoin ETFs fell from 313,000 BTC to 261,000 BTC during the quarter. That’s a 17% decline, or roughly 52,500 BTC walking out the door.
In dollar terms, the damage looked even worse. The total value of these positions dropped 35%, landing at $17.8 billion. Part of that was the selling itself, and part was Bitcoin’s price falling around 22% over the same period.
