Bitcoin ETFs Surge as Price Breaches $100K

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds soared on Thursday as the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency surpassed two big milestones.

For the first time ever, the price of bitcoin reached into the six figures, climbing as high as $103,800. At the same time, the market capitalization of bitcoin eclipsed $2 trillion, another first for the cryptocurrency.

For comparison, only five publicly-traded companies in the world have market caps in excess of $2— Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet.

In terms of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin’s $2 trillion market cap is more than the market value of all other crypto assets combined, and currently accounts for 55% of the total crypto market cap, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin Eclipses $100K Price, IBIT Jumps

The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), the largest U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETF with $50.6 billion in assets under management, jumped as much as 4.9% on Thursday before paring its gains to 2.1%.

The ETF has seen a whopping $33 billion of inflows this year.

ETFs tied to other cryptocurrencies, like ether, also rose on Thursday.

The $3 billion iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), briefly climbed 1.8% before trading up fractionally midday.

Ether is the second-most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap ($470 billion). The cryptocurrency was at the center of the crypto boom during the last bull market in the asset class thanks to its association with NFTs and DeFi.

But unlike bitcoin, ether has yet to surpass its 2021 peaks. The price of the cryptocurrency was last trading around $3,900, below its $4,800 all-time high.

Additionally, ether ETFs have been far less popular than their bitcoin counterparts. The aforementioned ETHA has had inflows of $2.3 billion since its launch in July.

However, ether has surged in recent days—its price is up 61% in just the past month since the election, besting bitcoin’s 46% gain— suggesting that some investors see value in the No. 2 crypto asset. 

On a year-to-date basis, ether is up half as much as bitcoin— 66% versus 131%.