Q1 2026 13F filings, due May 15, reveal a measurable shift in how Wall Street's largest trading desks and asset managers allocate across crypto exchange-traded funds. Jane Street cut BlackRock IBIT holdings by 71% and Fidelity FBTC by 60%, while routing $82 million into Ethereum ETFs. Morgan Stan...
"13F disclosures do not capture the firm's complete trading book or reveal net positioning tied to derivatives and short exposure." — SEC Form 13F Filing Requirements, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Q1 2026 13F filings, due May 15, reveal a measurable shift in how Wall Street's largest trading desks and asset managers allocate across crypto exchange-traded funds. Jane Street cut BlackRock IBIT holdings by 71% and Fidelity FBTC by 60%, while routing $82 million into Ethereum ETFs. Morgan Stanley disclosed $1.24 billion in spot Bitcoin ETF exposure, a 400% quarter-over-quarter increase. Goldman Sachs reported $2.36 billion in total digital asset exposure across Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETF products. Wells Fargo raised Ethereum ETF holdings by 63.5% even as ETH fell 29% during the quarter.
The aggregate data shows institutional ownership of spot Bitcoin ETFs climbed to 38% of total assets, up from 24% one year prior. Hedge funds, pension funds, and registered investment advisors collectively hold more than $40 billion in crypto ETF shares. Q1 2026 produced $18.7 billion in net crypto ETP inflows globally, with Bitcoin ETFs absorbing approximately $12.4 billion. The filing season paints a picture of maturing institutional infrastructure — not a single directional bet, but a diversifying allocation across digital asset classes.
Jane Street's Q1 2026 13F filing, published this week, disclosed the most dramatic portfolio rebalancing among major crypto ETF holders. The quantitative trading firm slashed its BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) position by approximately 71%, from roughly 20 million shares to 5.9 million shares valued at $225 million at quarter-end. Its Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) stake fell approximately 60% to 2 million shares worth $115 million.
The firm simultaneously cut its MicroStrategy (MSTR) position by 78%, reducing from 968,000 shares ($145.9 million) in Q4 2025 to 210,000 shares ($27 million) in Q1 2026. That reversal is notable: Jane Street had increased its MSTR stake by 473% just one quarter earlier. The firm also exited or trimmed positions in Bitcoin miners IREN, Cipher Mining, TeraWulf, and Core Scientific.
On the other side of the ledger, Jane Street allocated $82 million to Ethereum ETFs, nearly doubling its stake in BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) and adding substantially to Fidelity's Ethereum Fund (FETH). It also increased positions in crypto-adjacent equities: Riot Platforms holdings rose to 7.4 million shares ($91 million), Coinbase climbed to approximately 888,000 shares, and Galaxy Digital surged from 17,000 shares ($380,000) to 1.5 million shares ($28 million).
The net effect: Jane Street reduced aggregate Bitcoin-linked exposure by hundreds of millions while building a diversified position across Ethereum products and crypto equities.
Morgan Stanley's Q1 2026 filing disclosed approximately $1.24 billion in spot Bitcoin ETF exposure, with BlackRock's IBIT as its largest holding. That figure represents roughly 2.4% of the bank's reported equity holdings and a 400% increase from the prior quarter, according to data compiled from SEC filings.
The position is large relative to peers but comes with strategic context. Morgan Stanley launched its own Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT) on April 8, 2026, with a 14 basis-point expense ratio — undercutting BlackRock's 25 basis-point IBIT fee. The Q2 2026 filing, due in August, will reveal whether Morgan Stanley begins migrating from third-party ETFs like IBIT and FBTC into its proprietary product.
Morgan Stanley manages approximately $1.8 trillion in client assets. Even at $1.24 billion, Bitcoin ETFs represent less than 0.07% of total AUM, but the directional commitment signals that the firm's 15,000-plus financial advisors now have internal infrastructure to allocate client capital to crypto.
Goldman Sachs disclosed $2.36 billion in crypto-related exposure in its Q1 2026 13F, according to filings reviewed by multiple financial outlets. The breakdown: approximately $1.1 billion in Bitcoin ETF products, $1.0 billion in Ethereum, $153 million in XRP, and $108 million in Solana.
The firm's overall crypto allocation grew 15% quarter-over-quarter, even as it trimmed individual ETF positions during a period of market weakness. Goldman's Bitcoin ETF stake tripled in the months prior to this filing.
Goldman also filed in April 2026 to launch a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF — an options-overlay strategy designed to generate yield from Bitcoin exposure. That product, if approved, would mark Goldman's first proprietary crypto ETF and suggests the bank views Bitcoin not as a speculative position but as infrastructure for structured product engineering.
The four-asset composition of Goldman's portfolio — spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana — represents the broadest crypto allocation among the major banks filing 13Fs, and signals that institutional allocators are beginning to treat digital assets as an asset class with internal diversification properties rather than a single Bitcoin bet.
Wells Fargo's Q1 2026 filing disclosed a 63.5% increase in BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) holdings, from approximately 672,600 shares to nearly 1.1 million shares. The bank also raised its Bitwise Ethereum ETF (ETHW) stake by 37% to approximately 257,000 shares. Combined Ethereum ETF value reached approximately $21.5 million.
The timing is notable. ETH declined approximately 29% during Q1 2026, and spot Ethereum ETFs as a class experienced net outflows during the period, according to flow data from CoinGlass. Wells Fargo added to its position through the drawdown.
Simultaneously, Wells Fargo sold Galaxy Digital equity and purchased MicroStrategy shares — the inverse of Jane Street's trade. This cross-filing divergence illustrates that institutional players are not moving in lockstep; they are running different strategies based on different mandates, time horizons, and risk frameworks.
The individual filings roll up into a macro picture:
| Metric | Value | Source | |--------|-------|--------| | Q1 2026 global crypto ETP net inflows | $18.7 billion | Intellectia.ai | | Bitcoin ETF share of Q1 inflows | ~$12.4 billion | Intellectia.ai | | Institutional ownership of Bitcoin ETFs | 38% of total AUM | Investing.com | | Institutional ownership one year prior | 24% of total AUM | Investing.com | | Institutional holdings in crypto ETF shares | >$40 billion | Investing.com | | April 2026 spot Ethereum ETF net inflows | $356 million | CoinAlertNews | | April 2026 Bitcoin ETF net inflows | $2.44 billion | Investing.com | | May 2026 first six sessions | >$1.2 billion total | CoinTribune |
The 14-percentage-point increase in institutional ownership over 12 months — from 24% to 38% — represents a structural shift. Retail dominated the first year of spot Bitcoin ETF trading following the January 2024 approvals. By Q1 2026, more than one-third of assets sit in institutional accounts.
Registered investment advisors (RIAs) represent the largest institutional category by count, with typical allocations of 1-3% per portfolio. Hedge funds use ETFs primarily as liquid hedges to over-the-counter and derivatives exposure, with Millennium Management reportedly allocating up to 8% of AUM to crypto strategies.
The most structurally significant development in the Q1 2026 filing season may be the continued expansion of pension fund participation.
Wisconsin's State Investment Board holds over 6 million shares of BlackRock's IBIT, valued at approximately $340 million. The fund has consolidated all Bitcoin exposure into IBIT, exiting its earlier Grayscale GBTC position entirely. Michigan's state pension tripled its Bitcoin ETF holdings to $11.4 million. Florida's retirement system maintained 240,026 MicroStrategy shares worth approximately $97 million for indirect exposure. U.S. pension funds collectively hold $3.3 billion in crypto-related equities, according to aggregated filing data.
CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund managing approximately $500 billion, remains a focal point. The fund holds $80 million in MicroStrategy shares as of its most recent filing, providing indirect Bitcoin exposure. Board candidates are divided on whether to pursue direct crypto ETF allocation, with the November election potentially determining policy direction.
Pension fund participation matters because it represents the longest-duration capital in financial markets. These allocations, even at sub-1% levels, create persistent demand that differs fundamentally from hedge fund trading activity.
A critical caveat applies to all analysis of 13F data: these filings capture only reportable long positions as of quarter-end. They exclude:
The distinction between directional allocation and market-making inventory is particularly relevant for Jane Street, which holds positions in virtually every listed ETF as part of its authorized participant role. According to analysts at NewsBTC and multiple filing analysts, the firm's cuts may reflect changes in hedging requirements rather than a view on Bitcoin's direction.
The Q1 2026 13F filing season documents a crypto ETF market that has moved beyond its retail-dominated first year. Institutional ownership now accounts for 38% of Bitcoin ETF assets. The largest banks — Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo — hold multi-billion-dollar positions across both Bitcoin and Ethereum products. Pension funds representing millions of beneficiaries now appear regularly in crypto ETF share registries.
The most analytically interesting signal is not the size of any single position but the divergence between firms. Jane Street cut Bitcoin and bought Ethereum. Wells Fargo did the opposite on related equities. Morgan Stanley built a $1.24 billion position in third-party Bitcoin ETFs while simultaneously launching a competing product. Goldman built a four-asset crypto portfolio spanning the market-cap spectrum.
This divergence indicates that institutional crypto allocation has matured past the binary "in or out" phase. Firms are now making relative-value decisions within digital assets — choosing which tokens, which vehicles, and which fee structures to favor. That level of analytical granularity applied to a $18.7 billion quarterly flow base represents a fundamentally different market structure than existed 18 months ago.
The next data point arrives in August, when Q2 2026 filings will reveal whether Morgan Stanley shifted to its own MSBT product, whether Jane Street's Ethereum bet expanded, and whether pension fund allocations continued to grow. Until then, the Q1 filings provide the clearest available picture of how the largest pools of capital on Wall Street are positioning across digital assets.