Spot Bitcoin ETF Inflows Hit One-Day High of Over $1B

Contributing Editor

Mar 13, 2024

Reviewed by: Ron Day

Edited by: etf.com Staff

Led by the BlackRock Inc.'s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), inflows to the 10 spot bitcoin ETFs hit a one-day high on Tuesday of over $1 billion, according to the research arm of cryptocurrency exchange BitMex.

IBIT generated nearly $850 million in inflows alone for the day. Since it started trading on Jan. 11, IBIT has received more than $11 billion in inflows, far surpassing the other nine issuers who received SEC approval a day prior to offer ETFs based on bitcoin's spot price.

"Record inflow for Ten yest, first day over $1b net, $IBIT went crazy with $848m of it," wrote Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas in a Wednesday post on Twitter/X.

The latest inflows reflect the fierce demand for the new ETFs and widening interest in digital asset investments, particularly bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bitcoin was recently trading near $72,400, roughly flat over the past 24 hours but near the record high it set earlier this week, according to cryptocurrency data provider CoinMarketCap. Spot bitcoin ETFs hit their previous one-day high for inflows of $673 million in late February, according to BitMex.

Balchunas noted that the 10 spot bitcoin funds have generated more than $11 billion in inflows since their unveiling. That total includes more than $11 billion that's been pulled from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), according to BitMex data. That product differs from the other offerings: GBTC is a conversion from a long-standing bitcoin trust and charges a 1.5% fee, by far the highest among the new offerings.

GBTC's Outflows Taper

GBTC had $79 million in outflows on Tuesday, a small number compared to other days. In a Tuesday post, Balchunas wrote that $GBTC had the 2nd most outflows of any ETF in the last 15 yrs cumulatively."

The 10 ETFs have accumulated more than $60 billion in assets under management (AUM) with IBIT accounting for more than $15 billion of that amount. Balchunas noted that the fund is "about to crack the Top 100 ETFs by size."

In an SEC disclosure last Friday, BlackRock revealed that IBIT held almost 196,000 bitcoins, which for a brief period surpassed the holdings of MicroStrategy, a publicly traded software provider that pivoted its corporate strategy to acquire bitcoin. A weekend purchase by MicroStrategy subsequently gave the company larger bitcoin stores.

James Rubin

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James Rubin is a contributing editor for etf.com, where he produces the Morning Exchange and Weekly Exchange newsletters. A longtime financial writer, editor and book author, he formerly held positions as a news and markets editor for the Americas at CoinDesk, where he focussed on cryptocurrencies.

He provided editorial guidance for a Wall Street Journal best-selling book on Bitcoin and oversaw a startup newsroom focused on digital financial assets. He has edited for TheStreet and Unchained, where he wrote daily news stories about the trial of fallen crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. His writing has also appeared in The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes.com, AdWeek, Bankrate, The Financial Brand and The Wall Street Journal. He has also written for Forbes Insights and the Economist Intelligence Unit, including papers presented at World Economic Forums in Davos and Mumbai.

James is the co-author of The Urban Cyclist’s Survival Guide (Triumph Books) and has been interviewed about bike safety on a number of NPR affiliates. In a prior career, Rubin was a world-ranked tennis player, once competing in Wimbledon’s qualifying rounds. He speaks fluent German and is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and received his BA at Columbia University.

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