Banking Giant Barclays Owns $136,834,631 Worth of BlackRock’s Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund

The multinational banking giant Barclays holds nearly $137 million worth of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

The London-headquartered bank disclosed it holds 2,473,064 shares of BlackRock’s IBIT fund in a recent quarterly filing submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

IBIT, the largest Bitcoin (BTC) ETF in terms of assets under management (AUM), is priced at $55.33 at time of writing, meaning Barclays’ holdings are worth around $136.8 million.

Barclays also recently disclosed in a 2024 annual report that the United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is probing the bank over potential anti-money laundering rule violations.

Explains the firm,

“The FCA’s investigation focuses primarily on the historical oversight and management of certain customers with heightened risk. Barclays has been cooperating with the investigation.”

Barclays has shown an interest in the blockchain and digital asset space for years. In 2024, the bank teamed up with other financial institutions and the industry body UK Finance to participate in a tokenized deposits pilot project.

And back in 2022, reports emerged that Barclays planned to buy a multimillion-dollar stake in Copper, a European crypto firm aiming to provide a secure infrastructure for institutions looking to invest in digital assets. That same year, the bank also backed Elwood Technologies, a crypto infrastructure and market data platform founded by billionaire Alan Howard.

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