In an interview with Bloomberg, Rachel Aguirre, the head of product at BlackRock U.S. iShares, revealed that the firm’s spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) has witnessed a surge in inflows, predominantly coming from retail investors and newcomers to the cryptocurrency space.
This revelation follows the impressive performance of IBIT, which has maintained its lead in total volume among U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
BlackRock’s IBIT Records Impressive Inflows
As of the third day of trading, data from Nasdaq indicates that the total trading volume of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs approached $10 billion, with IBIT contributing approximately $1.9 billion to this figure.
BlackRock Head of US iShares Product Rachel Aguirre says that the influx of flows into IBIT are coming from both retail and new investors https://t.co/4ohfZ4ugkC pic.twitter.com/TRKIKsz29s
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) January 17, 2024
Notably, Standard Chartered analysts had forecasted spot Bitcoin ETFs would experience inflows exceeding $1 billion within the initial three months. In the fiercely competitive landscape of newly launched spot Bitcoin ETFs, day three witnessed a total trading volume around the $500 million mark, aligning with industry expectations.
BlackRock’s IBIT has continued to showcase robust performance since its highly anticipated debut on the NASDAQ, rapidly securing its place as the third-largest Bitcoin holder among public companies. The success of IBIT has sparked conversations among investors, who are closely monitoring BlackRock’s assertive moves in the cryptocurrency market.
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg’s ETF analyst, commented on BlackRock’s growing influence, stating that it’s not a matter of “if” but “when” they will surpass tech giant MicroStrategy in Bitcoin holdings.
Let me put into context how insane $10b in volume is in first 3 days. There were 500 ETFs launched in 2023. Today, they did a COMBINDED $450m in volume. The best one did $45m. And many have had months to get going. $IBIT alone is seeing more activity than the entire ’23 Freshman… https://t.co/wV1zQFtPW1
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 16, 2024
He also pointed out that IBIT has displayed exceptional market performance, surpassing all 500 newly introduced ETFs for 2023 as of January 16th.
IBIT Surges as a Strong Challenger to GBTC
IBIT’s remarkable inflows have positioned it as a formidable contender against the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), often referred to as the ‘Liquidity King’ due to its established presence and significant number of holders. IBIT recorded substantial flows of approximately $497.7 million in its first two days, enabling BlackRock to acquire around 11,500 Bitcoins for its fund.
Following closely behind IBIT, Fidelity Investments’ FBTC reported notable total flows of $422.3 million over the same period, maintaining a trading volume of $170.1 million on day three.
LATEST: Day Three volume so far half a billion for the Newborn Nine which is healthy, about the same pattern dropoff rate as $BITO (which again was the most successful organic launch in ETF history). $IBIT keeping lead to be one most likely to overtake $GBTC as Liquidity King. pic.twitter.com/hoatfSmNpN
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 16, 2024
Together, IBIT and FBTC contributed over $3.1 billion to the total trading volume, with the majority being attributed to inflows. In contrast, the more established ETFs, GBTC and ProShares’ BITO, dominated the total volume, accounting for $4.65 billion and $3.26 billion, respectively.
Despite their high trading volume, these two ETFs have predominantly experienced outflows, as investors sell off assets after recovering losses from the previous year.
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