Morgan Stanley: Shorting Bitcoin ETF, Betting on Stablecoin Leader Circle

May 21. Australian financial services firm Macquarie Group Ltd disclosed in mid-May’s 13F filing that between the December 31, 2025, and March 31, 2026, reporting periods, its holdings in IBIT decreased 19.3%—from 5.126 million shares to 4.139 million, with the corresponding asset value falling from roughly $255 million to $159 million. ETHA holdings also contracted, dropping 9.5% to 3.289 million shares (down from 3.634 million), trimming its value from around $81.5 million to $52.1 million. On cryptocurrency stocks, Macquarie reduced its stake in Coinbase by 19%, while boosting its position in Circle by a sharp 188%—Circle’s holding was valued at $2.326 million as of the first quarter’s end. The firm also added a new BitMine position, worth $4.153 million at March 31, 2026. For the AI sector, Macquarie took a cautious rather than aggressive stance: its holdings in major AI players like NVIDIA, Palantir, and AMD dropped significantly, with only a minor increase in shares of select semiconductor names such as Micron Technology.