diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-agentcustomization/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryAutoConfigurationCustomizerProvider.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-agentcustomization/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryAutoConfigurationCustomizerProvider.java
index 2ae24c2f6b6..2b1b79c5217 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-agentcustomization/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryAutoConfigurationCustomizerProvider.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-agentcustomization/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/SentryAutoConfigurationCustomizerProvider.java
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@
 import io.sentry.Sentry;
 import io.sentry.SentryIntegrationPackageStorage;
 import io.sentry.SentryOptions;
+import io.sentry.SentrySpanFactoryHolder;
 import io.sentry.protocol.SdkVersion;
 import io.sentry.protocol.SentryPackage;
 import io.sentry.util.SpanUtils;
@@ -32,13 +33,15 @@ public void customize(AutoConfigurationCustomizer autoConfiguration) {
     final @Nullable VersionInfoHolder versionInfoHolder = createVersionInfo();
 
     ContextStorage.addWrapper((storage) -> new SentryContextStorage(storage));
+    final @NotNull OtelSpanFactory spanFactory = new OtelSpanFactory();
+    SentrySpanFactoryHolder.setSpanFactory(spanFactory);
 
     if (isSentryAutoInitEnabled()) {
       Sentry.init(
           options -> {
             options.setEnableExternalConfiguration(true);
             options.setIgnoredSpanOrigins(SpanUtils.ignoredSpanOriginsForOpenTelemetry());
-            options.setSpanFactory(new OtelSpanFactory());
+            options.setSpanFactory(spanFactory);
             final @Nullable SdkVersion sdkVersion = createSdkVersion(options, versionInfoHolder);
             // TODO [POTEL] is detecting a version mismatch between application and agent possible?
             if (sdkVersion != null) {
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/api/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap.api b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/api/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap.api
index d9907781b57..31aaa4ba9a1 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/api/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap.api
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/api/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap.api
@@ -10,6 +10,11 @@ public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/InternalSemanticAttributes {
 	public fun <init> ()V
 }
 
+public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/OpenTelemetryUtil {
+	public fun <init> ()V
+	public static fun applyOpenTelemetryOptions (Lio/sentry/SentryOptions;)V
+}
+
 public final class io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelContextScopesStorage : io/sentry/IScopesStorage {
 	public fun <init> ()V
 	public fun close ()V
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OpenTelemetryUtil.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OpenTelemetryUtil.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..02fc706e610
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OpenTelemetryUtil.java
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+package io.sentry.opentelemetry;
+
+import io.sentry.SentryOptions;
+import io.sentry.SentrySpanFactoryHolder;
+import io.sentry.util.SpanUtils;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;
+
+@ApiStatus.Experimental
+public final class OpenTelemetryUtil {
+
+  public static void applyOpenTelemetryOptions(final @Nullable SentryOptions options) {
+    if (options != null) {
+      options.setSpanFactory(SentrySpanFactoryHolder.getSpanFactory());
+      options.setIgnoredSpanOrigins(SpanUtils.ignoredSpanOriginsForOpenTelemetry());
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSpanWrapper.java b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSpanWrapper.java
index 2a023e115bc..b5ee906e19e 100644
--- a/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSpanWrapper.java
+++ b/sentry-opentelemetry/sentry-opentelemetry-bootstrap/src/main/java/io/sentry/opentelemetry/OtelSpanWrapper.java
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ public final class OtelSpanWrapper implements ISpan {
    * OtelSpanWrapper} and indirectly back to {@link io.opentelemetry.sdk.trace.data.SpanData} via
    * {@link Span}. Also see {@link SentryWeakSpanStorage}.
    */
-  private final @NotNull WeakReference<ReadWriteSpan> span;
+  private final @NotNull WeakReference<ReadWriteSpan> span; // TODO [POTEL] bootstrap proxy
 
   private final @NotNull SpanContext context;
   //  private final @NotNull SpanOptions options;
diff --git a/sentry/api/sentry.api b/sentry/api/sentry.api
index 146d17461f5..a106b61618b 100644
--- a/sentry/api/sentry.api
+++ b/sentry/api/sentry.api
@@ -2936,6 +2936,12 @@ public abstract interface class io/sentry/SentryOptions$TracesSamplerCallback {
 	public abstract fun sample (Lio/sentry/SamplingContext;)Ljava/lang/Double;
 }
 
+public final class io/sentry/SentrySpanFactoryHolder {
+	public fun <init> ()V
+	public static fun getSpanFactory ()Lio/sentry/ISpanFactory;
+	public static fun setSpanFactory (Lio/sentry/ISpanFactory;)V
+}
+
 public final class io/sentry/SentrySpanStorage {
 	public fun get (Ljava/lang/String;)Lio/sentry/ISpan;
 	public static fun getInstance ()Lio/sentry/SentrySpanStorage;
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentrySpanFactoryHolder.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentrySpanFactoryHolder.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..cde9bc2a4fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentrySpanFactoryHolder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+package io.sentry;
+
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus;
+import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
+
+/**
+ * NOTE: This just exists as a workaround for a bug.
+ *
+ * <p>What bug? When using sentry-opentelemetry-agent with SENTRY_AUTO_INIT=false a global storage
+ * for spans does not work correctly since it's loaded multiple times. Once for bootstrap
+ * classloader (a.k.a null) and once for the agent classloader. Since the agent is currently loading
+ * these classes into the agent classloader, there should not be a noticable problem, when using the
+ * default of SENTRY_AUTO_INIT=true. In the future we plan to have the agent also load the classes
+ * into the bootstrap classloader, then this hack should no longer be necessary.
+ */
+@ApiStatus.Experimental
+public final class SentrySpanFactoryHolder {
+
+  private static ISpanFactory spanFactory = new DefaultSpanFactory();
+
+  public static ISpanFactory getSpanFactory() {
+    return spanFactory;
+  }
+
+  @ApiStatus.Internal
+  public static void setSpanFactory(final @NotNull ISpanFactory factory) {
+    spanFactory = factory;
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
index 5b4f9f273f0..ce739986ca9 100644
--- a/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
+++ b/sentry/src/main/java/io/sentry/SentryTracer.java
@@ -486,6 +486,7 @@ private ISpan createChild(
                   finish(finishStatus.spanStatus);
                 }
               });
+      // TODO [POTEL] missing features
       //      final Span span =
       //          new Span(
       //              root.getTraceId(),