BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund achieved a milestone yesterday, surpassing $15 billion in total inflows exactly three months after it commenced trading on January 11th.
“IBIT has seen over a 50% increase and has attracted $15 billion in new investments within three months; these figures are twice that of any other BlackRock ETF, of which they have 421,” stated Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on Thursday. “This performance is as hot as it gets.”
BlackRock’s IBIT led the inflows for U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs on the same day, adding $192.1 million, overshadowing the $124.9 million outflows from Grayscale’s higher-fee GBTC fund, as per CoinGlass data.
Bitwise’s BITB saw inflows of $11.1 million, while Valkyrie’s BRRR and Fidelity’s FBTC attracted $8.4 million and $4.6 million, respectively.
The remaining funds witnessed no flows, resulting in a net inflow of $91.3 million for the day. The total net inflows for spot bitcoin ETFs now stand at $12.9 billion. However, flows have slowed since peaking at a net daily inflow of $1.05 billion on March 12th, coinciding with bitcoin’s recent all-time high of $73,836, according to data from The Block’s dashboard.
BlackRock’s achievement in spot bitcoin ETF inflows comes amidst an intensified advertising campaign for the product. “iShares is heavily promoting its spot bitcoin ETF with seven banner ads visible while scrolling the Bloomberg homepage,” noted Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store. “Keep in mind, we’re only three months into this. The marketing competition is just beginning.”
Despite steady trading volume of $2.5 billion on Thursday, with IBIT leading at $1.1 billion, daily volume has decreased since reaching a record $9.9 billion on March 5th, coinciding with bitcoin surpassing its previous cycle peak of approximately $69,000.
Due to bitcoin’s price fluctuations, BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF reached $15 billion in assets under management (AUM) on March 12th and is now nearing $20 billion in AUM.
In terms of bitcoin holdings, BlackRock’s IBIT fund now manages over 266,000 BTC (valued at $18.9 billion) according to its latest disclosure, excluding yesterday’s inflows.
Fidelity’s FBTC has surpassed 151,000 BTC ($10.7 billion) in assets, while Ark Invest 21 Shares’ ARKB has accumulated over 43,000 BTC ($3 billion) in assets, according to CoinGlass.
Collectively, the nine newly launched spot bitcoin ETFs, excluding Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund, now hold more than 524,000 BTC in assets ($37 billion).
Meanwhile, the assets underlying GBTC have declined by 49% to just under 316,000 BTC ($22 billion) from approximately 619,000 BTC since the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs.
As of now, bitcoin is trading at $70,774, experiencing no significant change over the past 24 hours but showing a 5% increase over the past month and a 67% increase year-to-date.
