On August 12, JPMorgan Chase & Co. filed a Form 13F-HR institutional asset report with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), disclosing information about approximately 10.4 million shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund, valued at around $355.7 million as of June 30. This is higher than the nearly 8.3 million shares from three months prior, when the value of this position was approximately $162 million, according to the bank's first-quarter report.
The stake in IBIT represents only a small fraction of JPMorgan's total reportable assets, which, according to the same filing, are valued at $1.807 trillion and distributed across 34,064 separate positions. Nevertheless, the growth rate compared to the previous quarter surpasses that of the majority of the bank's traditional stock portfolio.
The bank's derivatives portfolio has also shifted in a more optimistic direction. According to the report, the number of IBIT-linked call options increased from 3.77 million to 3.94 million, while the number of put options decreased from 4.75 million to approximately 3.5 million. A smaller number of put options relative to call options typically signals a reduced level of hedging against price declines.
Finally, according to the same reporting data, the bank's stake in Blackrock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) grew by 338% to approximately $14.3 million, corresponding to nearly 1.17 million shares.
Return to $XRP
Perhaps a more notable change is JPMorgan's return to $XRP, given that the bank's first-quarter report showed it had completely exited its position in the Bitwise $XRP ETF, reducing the number of shares from 3,870 to zero. The second-quarter report indicates the opposite: new positions have appeared in the Bitwise $XRP ETF and the Grayscale $XRP Trust, as well as a stake in Armada Acquisition Corp II—a special purpose acquisition company backed by Ripple and trading under the ticker XRPN.
Compared to the bank's Bitcoin and Ethereum assets, the $XRP-related positions remain small in dollar terms. The stake in the Bitwise $XRP ETF is valued at $1,356 for 113 shares, the position in the Grayscale $XRP Trust is valued at $3,763 for 181 shares, and the stake in Armada Acquisition Corp II—a "blank check" company seeking a merger related to the Ripple ecosystem and trading under the ticker XRPN—is valued at $207,295 for 19,894 shares.
Despite their small size, the shift from a complete exit to renewed investment in three separate $XRP-linked instruments suggests that the bank's asset management division is no longer avoiding this asset. This aligns with a broader trend at JPMorgan, whose analysts earlier claimed that institutional investors are increasingly viewing cryptocurrency as an alternative to gold investments—a conclusion the bank confirmed in its own research.
Overall ETF fund flows tell a different story
JPMorgan's asset accumulation contrasts with the dynamics of the broader Bitcoin ETF market during the same week. On August 13, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $61.16 million, interrupting a brief recovery observed in the previous session. Fidelity's FBTC fund led in redemption volume, with $46.82 million withdrawn, while Blackrock's IBIT fund showed a relatively modest outflow of $14.34 million. Ethereum-investing funds moved in the opposite direction, adding a net inflow of $7.38 million that day.
The outflow on August 13 followed an even more significant outflow of $144.67 million on August 11, which broke a five-session streak of inflows, once again demonstrating how volatile short-term flows have been, even as reports like JPMorgan's indicate sustained asset accumulation in the background.
The next JPMorgan Form 13F filing, due in mid-November, will show whether the bank continued to build its Bitcoin, Ethereum, and $XRP positions throughout the third quarter or reduced them after the build-up in the second quarter. Investors will also be watching to see if the options shift towards more calls and fewer puts becomes a genuine bullish signal or merely a routine portfolio rebalancing.
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