UBS Increases BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Call Options 24-Fold, Expands IBIT Exposure
Forecast Trend Report by Period
UBS Group AG increased its call-option position tied to BlackRock Inc.'s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund by more than 24-fold from the previous quarter.
CoinDesk reported on August 15 that UBS disclosed to regulators a call-option position equivalent to 1.95 million underlying shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT, at the end of the second quarter. That compared with 80,000 shares at the end of the first quarter.
Its direct IBIT holdings also increased over the same period. UBS held 407,890 shares at the end of the second quarter, up about 12% from 364,371 shares at the end of the first quarter. The stake is currently worth about $13.6 million.
Put options moved the other way. The underlying share count for UBS's put-option position fell to 143,300 at the end of the second quarter from 303,300 at the end of the first quarter, a decline of about 53%. Its direct holdings also remained below the 548,614 shares it held at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025.
The filing did not include strike prices or expiration dates, making it difficult to determine UBS's net directional exposure. The positions could reflect client hedging, market-making activity, discretionary client portfolios or proprietary trading.
UBS, which oversees more than $7 trillion in assets, has been preparing since early this year to offer some Swiss private-banking clients access to Bitcoin and Ether trading. The filing did not say whether that expansion in client services drove the increase in options positions.
