Barclays Discloses $181.9 Million Bitcoin Fund Holding in Third Quarter

Key Facts

Barclays disclosed that it held 3,842,862 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust, with a reported value of $181.9 million at the end of the third quarter of 2026. Its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on November 6 states that the holdings period ended on September 30. In a separate disclosure, a Citigroup schedule showed 2,500,000 shares of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, valued at $118.87 million on the same date. The bank also listed 521,144 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust valued at $24.671 million. The figures place the banks’ holdings in Bitcoin-linked funds in two quarterly disclosures, but do not represent activity on the dates they were published.

The data relate to the end of September, while Barclays filed on November 6 and Ruth Clark signed Citigroup’s report on November 4, 2026. The schedules therefore describe what was listed in the portfolios at quarter-end, not trades made on the filing date. Citigroup’s disclosure also does not establish that its Fidelity position was newly opened, though it shows the holding’s value and share count at the end of the period. The available figures do not support generalizing about global banks’ direction or treating them as evidence of a broad increase in institutional holdings.

In addition to its common shares in the fund, Barclays disclosed call options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust linked to 8,479,800 underlying shares, and put options linked to 8,171,700 underlying shares. These are options positions separate from the 3,842,862 shares, and should not be added to them as common shares owned. The breakdown shows that the disclosure includes more than one type of exposure to the fund, with each position having a different nature. The $181.9 million value applies to the holding listed in the common-shares row. The schedule, based on the information available here, provides no basis for describing the options’ value as an additional value for the same holding.

The Fidelity fund had net assets of $15.327 billion on September 30, compared with $10.304 billion on June 30. These are assets of the fund as a whole, not Citigroup’s $118.87 million holding. The fund’s report says its shares represent beneficial interests and trade on Cboe BZX. The bank’s figure therefore reflects the shares it listed in its report, while the asset figure measures the fund’s net assets at the product level. Citigroup’s disclosure covers a much broader schedule of investments, with a total value of $308,299,622,766 and 12,011 entries and 10 other managers included.

The disclosures come after EL7 published a story on November 6 about LPL Financial increasing its holdings of spot Bitcoin funds by 50% to $261 million. That story provides context on another financial institution’s disclosure, but does not establish that the two banks followed the same trend or that the sector as a whole increased its exposure. A change in a position’s value between two dates may also reflect the asset’s price, while calculating the percentage increase requires checking the share count and comparing the relevant disclosures. Citigroup’s form cautions readers not to assume the information is accurate and complete merely because it was filed. The figures reported here remain tied to the reporting date, September 30, 2026, rather than the date the disclosures were published in November.