Bitcoin ETFs now $2B up on inflows to date, led by BlackRock

After a rocky start, bitcoin ETF shareholders are now well in the green

article-image

Shutterstock AI Image Generator modified by Blockworks

share

Investors have plowed billions of dollars into spot bitcoin ETFs since they launched last month — and so far, it’s paying off.

Altogether, the suite of new bitcoin-backed funds (not counting Grayscale Bitcoin Trust) have attracted $11.4 billion in capital inflows in the past five weeks.

Their respective issuers, a set of 10 led by BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark, 21Shares and Bitwise, have then used that cash to buy bitcoin on behalf of ETF shareholders.

They do so through crypto exchanges, mostly Coinbase and Coinbase Pro, but they also utilize prop trading firms such as the Dutch-founded Flow Traders.

  • Spot ETFs had accumulated 258,770 BTC as of Friday morning, per data shared by BitMEX Research. 
  • At $52,100 per coin, that’s $13.48 billion held by the ETFs — $2.08 billion more than the value that has flowed into those funds to date.
  • Buyers of these funds are overall up more than 18% since their January 11 debut. Bitcoin has meanwhile gained less than 12%.

BlackRock’s fund, IBIT, is the furthest ahead in terms of actual dollars. 

Read more: A month after launch, spot bitcoin ETF weekly net inflows hit new high

That’s mostly due to IBIT having the most assets under management (AUM) — 115,991 BTC ($6.04 billion) from $5.17 billion inflows, an appreciation of more than $870 million, or 17%, at current prices.

The chart below plots the differences between net inflows and the current value of bitcoin treasuries for each spot ETF.

All funds are beating bitcoin (except GBTC) but some more than others, despite dropping below zero in the first two weeks

Shareholders in Invesco-Galaxy’s offering, BTCO, are however way further ahead, albeit on a smaller scale. 

BTCO has attracted $241.4 million net flows and currently holds 5,970 BTC worth $311 million — a difference of almost $70 million, or 29%.

Valkyrie, Fidelity and VanEck funds are also further ahead than BlackRock’s, with around 20% gains.

BlackRock ETF has dollar-cost averaged into bitcoin

The variations in unrealized gains across the different funds illustrate distinct buying patterns between investor groups.

Plotting BlackRock inflows against bitcoin’s price, for example, shows investors have kept their IBIT allocations steady over time. 

This has essentially led IBIT to dollar-cost average into bitcoin at an even pace, converting to lower unrealized profits compared to Invesco-Galaxy’s fund BTCO.

BTCO instead saw two-thirds of its total inflows to date across just four days — Jan. 16 to 19 — as bitcoin floundered between $41,600 and $43,100 after dropping more than 15% in the days following the ETF debuts. 

Another surge in inflows occurred two days later, when BTC traded below $40,000 for the first time in more than a month.

Read more: Another bitcoin ETF just joined the $1B assets club. Will it be the last?

Bitcoin is now up by nearly one-third from that point, pushing BTCO, and its shareholders by extension, as far into the green as practically possible.

Some of those investors appear to have taken it one step further by taking profits, making BTCO the only bitcoin ETF, apart from GBTC, to record outflows since launch. 

Notice Invesco-Galaxy inflows (in blue) mostly came as bitcoin was dipping. BlackRock’s (in purple) are more spread out

Between Feb. 9 and 14, investors pulled more than 1,500 BTC ($78.1 million) from Invesco-Galaxy’s fund, equal to around 20% of its treasury at the time. The price of bitcoin rallied from under $45,500 to $50,000 across that period.

WisdomTree’s BTCW slightly trails the pack, having attracted the overwhelming majority of its inflows on its first day of trade — before bitcoin dipped.

As for Grayscale’s flagship fund, now an ETF in its own right, it has on average bled nearly 2,400 BTC ($124.9 million) per trading day this month. 

All told, the bitcoin pulled from GBTC since Jan. 11 was collectively worth $6.86 billion at the time of those outflows. 

That same amount of bitcoin (162,259 BTC) would now fetch $8.44 billion — potential gains of  23% left on the table, had that capital not immediately re-entered the market.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

kamino cover.jpg

Research

Kamino has solidified its position as the leading money market on Solana and is emerging as a DeFi bluechip. Although DeFi competition is fierce, Kamino has kept iterating on its product to provide the best-in-class UX, paired with a robust risk management framework and battle-tested infrastructure. Given the rollout of Kamino Lend V2, the protocol may scale aggressively over the coming months, penetrating previously untapped markets in Solana DeFi.

article-image

Platforms like Polymarket and Drift’s BET show higher probabilities for a Trump victory, reflecting current market sentiments

article-image

While DAOs promote transparency and community involvement, underlying centralized mechanisms reveal the challenges in achieving full decentralization

article-image

Also in the tokenized fund space, Franklin Templeton launches on Base and Securitize hits $1 billion in tokenized RWA onchain

article-image

It turns out that bitcoin never actually hit an all-time high in March. Thanks a lot, inflation.

article-image

Spire, Citrea and Nillion also announced raises this week

article-image

The latest recipient of an SEC Wells notice is a Web3 gaming company