Paul Tudor Jones is buying Bitcoin through an ETF again, but the more revealing part of the trade may be what the billionaire hedge fund manager is no longer using to make the bet.
Tudor Investment, the macro hedge fund Jones founded in 1980, increased its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (NASDAQ:IBIT) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to a 13F filing submitted to the SEC on Friday, highlighted by Decrypt.
The firm held 688,529 IBIT shares worth about $22.9 million as of June 30, up from 579,083 shares at the end of March. That represents a net addition of 109,446 shares.
The increase is relatively small against Tudor’s more than $100 billion in assets, but it is significant because it reverses a year-long pattern of reducing its Bitcoin ETF exposure.
Tudor Changes the Way It Bets on Bitcoin
The bigger signal in the filing is the shift from options toward direct ownership of IBIT.
Tudor cut its reported IBIT call-option exposure by roughly 85%, reducing the equivalent underlying shares from about 998,000 to 148,000. Its put position remained roughly unchanged.
That means the firm’s reported exposure is becoming substantially less dependent on options and more concentrated in the ETF itself.
13F filings do not disclose the strike prices or expiration dates of options, so the precise strategy cannot be determined. Still, the combination of fewer calls and more outright IBIT shares points to a potentially more straightforward approach to Bitcoin exposure.
In other words, Tudor is not simply increasing its Bitcoin bet. It is changing the structure of the bet.
Still Far Below Tudor’s Bitcoin Peak
The move should not be mistaken for Tudor returning to the size of its previous Bitcoin position.
The firm held more than 8 million IBIT shares in late 2024, worth roughly $427 million at the time, as Decrypt noted. It subsequently reduced that position throughout 2025.
Its latest 688,529-share position is therefore only a fraction of that peak.
That makes the second-quarter purchase more of a re-entry signal than an all-in Bitcoin call.
It also fits with Jones’ long-standing view of Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and currency debasement. He has repeatedly argued that Bitcoin can serve as an alternative monetary asset, particularly when fiscal and monetary risks rise.
IBIT Remains the Institutional Bitcoin ETF Leader
Tudor’s renewed buying comes as institutional interest in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs has begun to strengthen.
The funds attracted hundreds of millions of dollars of combined inflows over a recent five-day period as expectations for interest-rate hikes eased.
BlackRock’s IBIT remains the dominant vehicle, accounting for roughly 49% of assets across U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
That dominance makes IBIT an increasingly important barometer for institutional Bitcoin demand. When a major macro hedge fund such as Tudor changes its positioning, the significance extends beyond the firm’s relatively modest $22.9 million position.
The key question now is whether Tudor’s move represents an isolated portfolio adjustment or the beginning of a broader shift toward direct Bitcoin ETF exposure among institutional investors. For now, the filing indicates that Tudor is accumulating IBIT again, but with far less reliance on leveraged options than before.
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