Blackrock Pulled $1Bn in its Spot ETF, Fidelity Placed 2nd

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF has received over $1 Billion in inflows within its first four days of trading, surpassing Fidelity Investments’ Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Balchunas has stated that early inflows into IBIT at this level are very uncommon. 

The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) and State Street Global Advisors’ SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) are the only two other ETFs that have surpassed $1 Billion in assets via “organic-like demand” so soon after trading. BITO achieved this two days after its launch in October 2021, while GLD hit the $1 Billion asset mark after three days on the market in 2004. 

Seyffart has acknowledged that other funds, such as the Xtrackers MSCI USA Climate Action Equity ETF (USCA) and the iShares Climate Conscious & Transition MSCI USA ETF (USCL), reached even greater asset levels early on. 

However, Ilmarinen, a Finnish pension insurance company, achieved this by making large investments of $2.1 Billion and $2 Billion in USCL and USCA, respectively. BlackRock’s filing for a spot bitcoin ETF last June was notable due to the firm’s size and status in traditional finance.

GBTC recorded inflows of over $1.6 Billion

Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) has seen outflows of about $1.6 Billion in its first four days of trading due to its higher fee compared to rivals. GBTC had approximately $28 Billion in assets before converting into an ETF last week. Rachel Aguirre, US iShares product head, stated that flows were coming from various sources, including self-directed investors when asked during a Bloomberg interview whether investors leaving GBTC were entering IBIT. 

A BlackRock spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Seyffart has stated that “there is no blockchain with fund flows to see where the money is coming from.” The big adviser platforms and wirehouses have almost certainly not yet approved these products. 

According to Neena Mishra, director of ETF research at Zacks Investment Research, a few days prior to the spot bitcoin ETF launches, she was betting on BlackRock to outdo competitors in this segment. Mishra stated that a low-cost product from the world’s largest asset manager, perfect for an advisor or investor seeking safe and convenient Bitcoin exposure, was hard to resist.

The largest outflows yet, amounting to $131.6 Million, were seen in spot bitcoin ETFs. Grayscale’s converted fund experienced outflows of $579.6 Million, significantly surpassing inflows from other funds, as per BitMEX Research. Although a total of $447.9 Million worth of inflows were generated by 10 of the 11 ETF products, it was not sufficient to offset the outflows from Grayscale’s fund.

Fidelity is Now the Second to Reach $1 Billion Mark in Inflows

On January 19th, Fidelity (FBTC) and BlackRock (IBIT) spot bitcoin ETFs garnered the most inflows, attracting $177.9 Million and $145.6 Million, respectively. 

Invesco (BTCO) saw the third-largest inflows of $59 Million, while Ark Invest/21Shares (ARKB) and Bitwise (BITB) witnessed inflows of $41.8 Million and $20.1 Million, respectively. Flows for the remaining ETFs remained stagnant on Thursday. 

Conclusion

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF hit $1 Billion in assets within the first four days of trading. This makes it the first among recently launched ETFs to achieve this milestone.  Fidelity and BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETFs received the most inflows, attracting $177.9 Million and $145.6 Million, respectively.

Steefan George is a crypto and blockchain enthusiast, with a remarkable grasp on market and technology. Having a graduate degree in computer science and an MBA in BFSI, he is an excellent technology writer at The Coin Republic. He is passionate about getting a billion of the human population onto Web3. His principle is to write like “explaining to a 6-year old”, so that a layman can learn the potential of, and get benefitted from this revolutionary technology.