Bitcoin ETF snapshot: Flows eclipse $1B last week amid ETH fund hype

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust is on the cusp of passing Grayscale’s GBTC in assets under management

May 28, 2024 11:08 am

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During a week headlined by a key approval for US spot ether ETFs, investor capital poured into America’s bitcoin funds.

Nearly $1.1 billion collectively entered the 11 US spot bitcoin ETFs, according to Farside Investors data.

It marked the third straight week of net inflows for the fund category after four consecutive weeks of outflows.

Last week’s flows marked the highest weekly bitcoin ETF inflow total since the segment saw more than $2.5 billion from March 11 to March 15. The latest total narrowly eclipsed the $948 million of inflows reeled in by the funds between May 13 and May 17.

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BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led the way with $720 million of net inflows, the data indicates.

IBIT is on the cusp of surpassing the category leader in assets, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC). As of Friday, IBIT and GBTC managed about $19.6 billion and $20 billion, respectively.

Grayscale has seen more than $17.6 billion of net inflows since converting to an ETF in January — though those have abated in recent weeks.

David LaValle, the firm’s head of ETFs, said during an event last month that the company “anticipated” the initial wave of outflows given the different types of GBTC holders.

“We had a number of institutional traders that were taking on positions when the product was trading at a discount to its net asset value,” LaValle noted at the time. “[The conversion] gave the opportunity for those investors to unwind those positions.”

Grayscale is also seeking to launch a cheaper version of GBTC.

James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, wrote in a Tuesday report that the inflows into bitcoin ETFs are likely partially due to investors interpreting the Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes and recent macro data as “mildly dovish.”

During a week in which the Securities and Exchange Commission approved 19b-4 proposals for a range of spot ether ETFs, ether-related products in other countries saw $36 million worth of inflows.

Overall, year-to-date net inflows into digital asset investment products so far total a record-high $14.9 billion, CoinShares data shows.

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