Wells Fargo, a banking giant managing roughly $2.5 trillion (around Rp40,000 trillion) in assets, has made striking changes to its crypto portfolio composition. In its latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the bank boosted its stake in Strategy - Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin treasury firm - by 125% to nearly 726,000 shares, adding around $41.5 million (equivalent to Rp676 billion) in exposure.
At the same time, the bank cut 75,102 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), while opening new call option positions and adding put options amid market uncertainty driven by the US-Iran conflict. IBIT was not the only fund trimmed - Wells Fargo also reduced its holdings in the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF, and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund.
Not a Bitcoin Sell Signal - Just Shifting Wrappers
Interestingly, despite trimming several popular Bitcoin ETFs, Wells Fargo actually increased its positions in Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) - where its stake grew 24% from the previous quarter. This suggests the move is not about fleeing Bitcoin, but rather rotating into “wrappers” deemed more advantageous at the time, including shifting a portion of exposure into treasury equities like Strategy, which offer higher leverage to Bitcoin price movements.
Ethereum, Solana, and Bitmine Also See Fresh Inflows
The bank’s Ethereum exposure surged notably. Holdings in BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) climbed around 65% to over 1.1 million shares worth approximately Rp286 billion. Wells Fargo was also recorded opening positions in Solana investment products for the first time, purchasing shares of Grayscale Solana Trust and Fidelity Solana Fund. Its stake in Bitmine Immersion - a company operating an Ethereum treasury strategy - soared 828% to 21,547 shares, while new positions were also opened in American Bitcoin Corp (a mining firm affiliated with the Trump family) and treasury vehicles from Strive Asset Management.
Not all crypto-related stocks received fresh capital. Wells Fargo slashed its holdings in Galaxy Digital by up to 97% and trimmed its Coinbase position by around 25%. These moves illustrate that major institutional banks no longer view crypto exposure as a monolithic “buy or sell” block, but rather as an intricate portfolio continuously rotated depending on which products most efficiently provide digital asset exposure amid macro volatility. For retail investors, this pattern serves as a reminder that “institutional money entering crypto” is never a simple one-way street.
Reported by crypto.news.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
