BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF reached over $1 billion in inflows within its first four days of trading — a rare achievement in ETF history.
Bloomberg Intelligence reported that the iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT, had received nearly $1.1 billion in new investments after Wednesday’s closing. The fund has surpassed Fidelity Investments Wise Origin Bitcoin Funds (FBTC), with $882 millions of inflows.
Blockworks reported that Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Balchunas said early inflows of IBIT are extremely rare at this stage.
Seyffart referred to only two other ETFs that exceeded $1 billion in assets “organic-like demand” ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO), and State Street Global Advisors SPDR Gold shares (GLD) were traded so quickly after each other.
BITO surpassed $1 billion assets mark just two days after the launch of its 2021 market, while GLD surpassed $1 billion assets within three days of the 2004 market.
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 assets levels early on, Seyffart acknowledged.
But those did so through large investments by Finnish pension insurance company Ilmarinen — with the firm offering initial investments of $2.1 billion and $2 billion in USCL and USCA, respectively.
BlackRock’s filing for a bitcoin ETF in June last year was a big deal, given its size and reputation within traditional finance. The company manages approximately $10 trillion of assets, including $2.6 trillion from its more than 400 US-based ETFs.
Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) has seen outflows of about $1.6 billion in its first four days trading — a scenario some industry watchers foresaw given the product’s higher fee compared to competitors.
This fund, which was established in 2013, had approximately $28 billion worth of assets when it became an ETF.
Rachel Aguirre, US iShares Product Head said that flows from IBIT were coming when asked by Bloomberg whether investors were leaving GBTC to enter IBIT. “a number of different directions,” Includes self-directed investor
BlackRock did not immediately respond to an inquiry for comment.
“There is no blockchain with fund flows to see where the money is coming from,” Seyffart said Blockworks. “That said, the big adviser platforms and wirehouses almost certainly have not greenlit these products yet.”
BlackRock’s early asset lead — excluding GBTC — does not exactly come as a surprise.
Neena Mihsra, Zacks Investment Research’s director of ETF Research, stated a few weeks before the launch of spot bitcoin ETFs that BlackRock would be able to beat competitors in this sector.
“What’s not to like about a low-cost product from the world’s largest asset manager that seems perfect for an advisor or investor looking for safe and convenient bitcoin exposure?” She told Blockworks then.
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