Barclays lifts IBIT stake 48% as Citi adds $119M in FBTC

Barclays has increased its holdings in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) to 3,942,900 shares worth $186.66 million as of Sept. 30, according to its SEC filing submitted Nov. 6. The position spans three share entries, and separate put and call option entries reference the same fund. Cointelegraph reported on Nov. 11 that the share count was roughly 2.66 million shares worth $88.5 million at the end of June, so the 48% rise refers to shares held while the reported dollar value more than doubled. PrimeXBT senior market analyst Jonatan Randin told Cointelegraph that rising fund prices can account for part of the growth in reported dollar value, and that shares should be compared rather than dollar amounts alone.

Citigroup filed its report two days earlier and disclosed holdings in both IBIT and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). Its FBTC position of 1,636,387 shares, valued at $118.87 million, does not appear in its June-quarter table. Its two IBIT entries total 521,144 shares worth $24.67 million, up from 347,114 shares at June 30, an increase of 174,030 shares or about 50.1%. Across Barclays' IBIT shares and Citi's IBIT and FBTC shares, the combined quarter-end value was $330.19 million, excluding separately reported options.

Options activity moved in different directions. Barclays reported IBIT calls covering 8,479,800 underlying shares and puts covering 8,169,700 shares. Citi listed calls covering 400,000 shares and puts covering 505,000 shares, down from calls on 2.91 million shares and puts on 1.6 million shares in June. Under SEC guidance, managers report long positions without netting short positions, and written options are excluded, so the filings do not provide a complete view of offsetting trades or hedging. The reporting requirement applies to institutional managers exercising investment discretion over at least $100 million in covered securities. A similar ambiguity surrounded Jane Street's disclosure of more than $1 billion in bitcoin ETF shares for June 30, including roughly $828 million in IBIT.

The quarter-end snapshots predate a period of heavy withdrawals. According to crypto.news, bitcoin ETFs lost $1.28 billion during Nov. 2-6, with IBIT accounting for $1.21 billion and recording net withdrawals in every session. Fidelity's FBTC posted $93.1 million in net inflows for the same week despite losing $199.9 million on Thursday. Ether ETFs shed $365.2 million. The SEC set Nov. 16 as the deadline for third-quarter 13F reports, and fourth-quarter filings covering Dec. 31 holdings are due Feb. 16, 2027.

Separately, according to Reuters, Deutsche Bank's crypto custody service launched on Nov. 11 for institutional and corporate clients in Europe. The initial offering supports bitcoin, ether, USDC, EURC and EURAU, with the bank managing wallets and private keys and clients accessing the service through its Autobahn corporate banking platform. Retail customers are excluded from the initial rollout. The bank's October MiCA registration covers crypto custody and transfer services, and it has announced plans to expand into major Asian financial centers in 2027.