Barclays Adds 48% More IBIT Shares as Citi Reports Fidelity Position

What happened: Barclays reported 3.94 million shares of BlackRock’s IBIT, worth approximately $187 million, as of September 30, up from 2.66 million shares worth $88.5 million at June 30. Citigroup disclosed a new $119 million position in Fidelity’s FBTC and increased its IBIT holding to 521,000 shares from 347,000. Across the early-filer sample, banks accounted for approximately $258 million, or 4.9%, of reported spot Bitcoin ETF holdings.

Why it matters: Barclays’ 48% increase in share count is stronger evidence of increased exposure than the change in portfolio value alone, because IBIT’s price rose approximately 41% during the quarter. Scale also tempers the headline: the filing spans eight Barclays entities with $500.17 billion in combined holdings, leaving IBIT a small allocation. Investment advisers represented $3.5 billion, or 66.6%, of the early-filer ETF sample, so these disclosures support a broader ownership story without establishing that banks dominate demand.

Sources: Cointelegraph; CoinMarketCap Academy.