Swiss mega-bank UBS ramps up its Bitcoin exposure with a massive 24-fold surge in ETF call options

Banking giant UBS, with over $7 trillion in assets under management, has reported a more than 24-fold quarterly increase in call option exposure tied to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) in the second quarter.

That increase, which gives it the right to acquire IBIT shares at a later date at a set price, came as its outright IBIT holdings rose about 12%, according to a regulatory filing this week.

The Swiss banking group reported calls representing 1.95 million underlying IBIT shares as of June 30, up from 80,000 three months earlier. UBS separately held 407,890 IBIT shares worth about $13.6 million, compared with 364,371 shares at the end of the first quarter, according to its Q1 filing.

Put option exposure, giving UBS the right but not the obligation to sell IBIT at a set date and price, moved in the opposite direction. UBS reported puts representing 143,300 underlying shares, down about 53% from 303,300 at the end of March.

Its direct IBIT position also remained below the 548,614 shares reported at the end of 2025, according to its fourth-quarter filing.

The disclosure also does not include strike prices or expirations, making it difficult to determine UBS’s net directional exposure from the filing alone.

The increase comes as UBS expands its work around client access to digital assets. Earlier this year, the bank started preparing to offer select private banking clients in Switzerland access to bitcoin and ether trading.

The filing does not say whether those client initiatives drove the increase in IBIT options. The positions could also reflect dealer hedging, market-making activity, discretionary client portfolios or proprietary exposure.

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