Banco Santander, the Spanish banking group with more than $16 billion in disclosed U.S. equity holdings, reported a stake in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust for the first time, according to a 13F filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
The filing shows 129,615 IBIT shares worth $4.31 million as of June 30. Santander also disclosed 297,947 shares of the iShares Ethereum Trust worth $3.54 million — its first reported Ether ETF position — alongside a $1.51 million holding in the iShares Gold Trust.
Neither fund appeared in the bank's previous quarterly disclosure, filed May 8, and a full-text search of the bank's SEC filings shows no prior Bitcoin ETF positions.
The crypto exposure is small against the bank's $16.08 billion in reported U.S. equity positions — the two funds combined make up roughly 0.05% of the book, spread across 929 line items. The filing covers holdings managed by Santander and five affiliated managers; both crypto ETF positions sit with SAM Investment Holdings, the Madrid-based holding company for Santander Asset Management, which reports shared investment discretion over the shares.
13F filings disclose long U.S. equity positions of institutional managers with over $100 million in assets, and don't distinguish between proprietary bets and positions held on behalf of clients or funds. The filing was signed by Ruben Navajo, Santander's head of group accounting, on July 28.
