ChainCatcher news, according to Forbes, securities filing documents show that hedge funds Millennium Management, Capula Management, and Tudor Investment increased their investments in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in the third quarter.Millennium's holdings in iShares Bitcoin Trust more than doubled from the previous quarter to 23.5 million shares, valued at $849 million. It also increased its positions in ARK 21Shares and Bitwise Bitcoin ETFs; London-based macro hedge fund Capula added to its positions in iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, totaling approximately $600 million; Paul Tudor Jones's hedge fund Tudor significantly increased its investment in iShares Bitcoin Trust, raising its share count fivefold to 4.4 million shares.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, former executives from Millennium Management LLC and Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) are starting a consulting business in the digital asset space. Benoit Bosc, who previously served as a portfolio manager at Millennium, and Michael Bressler, who recently held the position of executive vice president at Pimco, left their roles in October and August respectively to establish the digital asset consulting firm x2B. The company is set to launch in November and already has 10 clients, charging based on a mix of future tokens and cash for projects.The firm will provide consulting services for crypto projects, including fundraising, token issuance, financial management, and market-making arrangements. Bosc previously served as the U.S. general manager at digital asset market maker GSR, while Bressler was the global head of sales at the company for a year and a half. In an interview, Bressler stated, "Few people understand the complex dynamics of token issuance at the intersection of high-end traditional finance and digital finance." Bosc noted that the industry will benefit from "more professional and transparent practices," adding that x2B plans to encourage "various market participants and service providers involved in these issuances to take on more responsibility."

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times citing informed sources, BlackRock is in preliminary discussions with Millennium Management about a strategic partnership that could allow the world's largest asset management company to acquire a stake in this highly profitable hedge fund management firm.Although any stake may be small, this potential collaboration reflects BlackRock's pursuit of expanding into the alternative investment space, while also showing that Millennium's 76-year-old founder, Izzy Englander, is continuing to grow and diversify his business.Informed sources indicate that negotiations are still in the early stages and may not result in an agreement. If BlackRock does indeed acquire a stake in Millennium, it would mark the first time in 35 years that Englander has accepted external investment into Millennium's management company.

ChainCatcher news, according to the 13-F filing submitted by Millennium Management to the SEC's official website, Millennium held BlackRock's IBIT, Grayscale's GBTC, Bitwise's BITB, Fidelity's FBTC, and ARK's ARKB in the second quarter. The total assets held in Bitcoin spot ETFs were approximately $1.14 billion, compared to about $2 billion in the first quarter, making it the institution with the largest holdings in spot BTC ETFs in the first quarter.Millennium reduced its Bitcoin ETF holdings by over 40%, with IBIT down 48%, FBTC down 14%, GBTC down 52%, and BITB up 71%. The largest reduction was in IBIT, which decreased by 9.98 million shares, approximately $470 million (details in the chart below).It is reported that Millennium Management was founded in 1989 and is known for its multi-strategy hedge funds. The total assets in Q1 were $234 billion, slightly decreasing to $215.9 billion in Q2, with its cryptocurrency investments accounting for less than one percent.

ChainCatcher news, according to the 13-F filing submitted by Millennium Management to the SEC for the second quarter, the hedge fund Millennium Management reduced its position in spot Bitcoin ETFs in the second quarter.FBTC: -14%, with $589 million;IBIT: -48%, with $371 million;GBTC: -52%, with $82 million;BITB: +71%, with $65 million;MSTR: +8837%, with $121 million.

ChainCatcher news, according to DL News, hedge fund giant Millennium previously disclosed a valuable $2 billion Bitcoin spot ETF, which includes $844 million in BlackRock's IBIT and $806 million in Fidelity's FBTC shares.Two institutional traders indicated that Millennium may deploy a "basis trading" strategy. Millennium is not betting on a further increase in Bitcoin prices, but may be arbitraging between the spot and futures prices of Bitcoin on the CME.In other words, Millennium is not necessarily investing in the ETF because they like Bitcoin, but rather profiting from market inefficiencies. The aforementioned traders do not work at Millennium but have relevant experience at Wall Street trading firms.It is reported that basis trading is a financial term used to describe the difference between the spot price and the futures price of a specific commodity.Assuming the trading price of Bitcoin is $70,000, but the corresponding futures contract price on the CME is $77,000, then the price difference between the two is 10%. If institutional traders believe that the price of Bitcoin will catch up to the futures contract price, they will buy shares of the Bitcoin spot ETF and sell Bitcoin futures contracts on the CME; if they believe that the futures contract price will drop until it reaches the spot price, they will sell Bitcoin in the spot market and buy Bitcoin futures contracts on the CME. This way, they can take advantage of the 10% price difference between the spot and futures prices. However, if they bet on the first scenario and the second scenario occurs, or vice versa, they may still incur losses.

ChainCatcher news shows that in recent regulatory filings, several hedge funds and other asset management companies, including Millennium Management LLC, acquired U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to Bitcoin prices in the first quarter. New York-based Millennium revealed that as of March 31, they invested $2 billion in several new ETFs, including BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O), Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, and funds launched by issuers such as Bitwise Investments and ARK Investment Management.