Following the start of Bitcoin ETFs in the US in January, BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) had its first day without any new fund coming in. Since it started on January 11, IBIT has regularly gotten millions of dollars in investments every day, building up a total of about $15.5 billion in just 71 days. BlackRock, on the other hand, stopped getting new investments on April 24 when it recorded $0 in new investments.
Most other Bitcoin ETFs also saw a drop in investor interest during this dry spell, not just IBIT. The only Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. that saw funds come in were the Fidelity Wise Origin BTC Fund (FBTC) and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). They each got $5.6 million and $4.2 million. At the same time, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) kept losing funds. On April 24, it reported losing $130.4 million. This was part of a net outflow of $120.6 million for spot Bitcoin ETFs that day.
Bitcoin ETFs Witness Varied Inflows
IBIT had never had a problem with not getting funds coming in, but other ETF members have had the same problem. For example, in the last two weeks, Fidelity’s FBTC had three days with no fund coming in. Even with these changes, the U.S. Bitcoin ETF market has now gained a total of $12.3 billion in BTC. But outflows from GBTC have cancelled out some of the inflows from the other ten BTC ETFs. Since January 11, withdrawals have been over $17 billion.
Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, praised IBIT’s 71-day run of steady inflows. As examples, he said that the Global Jets ETF, Vanguard’s bond market ETF, and the developed-markets ETF were all “one-hit wonders” and “cash vacuum cleaners.” By this measure, IBIT’s streak puts it in the top ten funds of all time, but Balchunas said there is still a long way to go before it gets to the top.
The JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF has had the most fund come into it for 160 days in a row, which is longer than any other ETF. There are $18.27 billion in assets in BlackRock’s BTC fund, making it one of the best ETFs ever made. Balchunas said that the ETF’s success was due to institutions gradually adding more BTC to their portfolios. He called Bitcoin “hot sauce” on top of major portfolios.
Some of BlackRock’s attempts to get into cryptocurrency have been successful right away, though. Only a few buyers have put fund into BlackRock’s tokenized fund, BUIDL, since it launched on the Ethereum blockchain on March 20. On-chain data shows that most of the fund’s assets are held in 11 wallets, even though its value has grown by 200% in just a few weeks.
