Diverging ETP Tastes

Family offices pick ETH

Family offices and professional investors view spot exchange‑traded products (ETPs) through different lenses. Latest Bitwise data (Dec. 31, 2024) show family offices and trusts assign 0.62 % of total spot Ethereum ETP assets under management (AUM) to their portfolios, versus 0.13 % for Bitcoin. That is almost a five‑fold tilt toward ETH among these smaller, more agile allocators.

Why the disparity? Family offices often chase emerging opportunities ahead of larger peers. They like Ethereum’s growing role in staking, restaking, and tokenized real‑world assets. Those narratives resonate with their longer investment horizons and appetite for innovative yield.

Institutions still favor BTC

Hedge funds, advisors, brokerages

While family offices flirt with ETH, big money remains married to BTC. Hedge funds hold 36.97 % of all spot Bitcoin ETP AUM. Investment advisors follow at 33.11 %, and brokerages contribute 14.91 %. Altogether, over 85 % of Bitcoin ETP allocations sit with these traditional powerhouses.

Ethereum’s ownership pie looks more balanced. Brokerages make up 25.25 %, advisors 29.79 %, hedge funds 24.74 %, and a sizable 16.96 % falls into “Other” wallets—many of which are specialist crypto firms.

Banks and pension funds dabble only modestly on both chains: under 1.3 % for BTC, under 1 % for ETH. Venture capital and insurers hardly register.

Top‑holder split

Top holdings underline the divide.

• Millennium Management tops Bitcoin with $4.42 billion in BTC ETPs.
• Goldman Sachs leads Ethereum at $477 million, followed by Jane Street at $450 million.

Several crossover players—Jane Street, D. E. Shaw, Brevan Howard—signal broad crypto confidence. Yet names like Elequin and HBK Investments appear only on the ETH list, confirming Ethereum’s distinct secondary following.

What it means

Family offices’ tilt does not overhaul crypto’s institutional landscape. Bitcoin still reigns in absolute dollars. Even so, Ethereum’s relative pull shows that smaller, flexible allocators value its evolving utility. Meanwhile, hedge funds and advisors favor Bitcoin’s liquidity, brand, and perceived digital‑gold status.

Spot ETP flows reveal two clear stories: Bitcoin commands the lion’s share of institutional assets, but Ethereum captures the imagination of family offices hungry for growth and innovation. As staking yields mature and real‑world asset projects scale, that preference could broaden. Still, for now, BTC’s entrenched dominance keeps it the default institutional play—leaving ETH to court the daring and the nimble.