Key Insights
- New Bitcoin spot ETFs see trading volumes exceeding all 2023 fund debuts combined
- BlackRock’s Bitcoin Trust took in $497 million in inflows in 3 days
- Grayscale’s GBTC leads in volume but saw $579 million in outflows as discount shrinks
NEW YORK – The 10 recently approved spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen trading volumes in their first few sessions that dwarf activity in all 500 ETFs launched last year combined, data showed.
The new crop of cryptocurrency products that give mainstream investors exposure to Bitcoin logged nearly $1.8 billion in total volume on Monday.
That’s more than triple the $450 million traded across all 2023 ETF debuts on the same day, according to data from Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust led inflows with $497 million over three days, Balchunas said. Vying for the top liquidity spot is Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the world’s largest Bitcoin fund.
While GBTC – converted to an ETF last week – leads with over $5 billion total volume, it saw outflows of $579 million as investors cut exposure. Analysts expect BlackRock to attract more inflows and imperil GBTC’s lead.
“Most likely to overtake GBTC as Liquidity King,” Balchunas tweeted about BlackRock’s fund.
GBTC enjoyed a premium as high as 40% in late 2020 when few Bitcoin investment options existed. Its plummet into a discount trapped investors unable to sell without realizing steep losses.
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The shrinking discount, now at 1.55%, has sparked an exodus out of GBTC, analysts said.
Providers Fidelity, Valkyrie and Galaxy Digital also debuted spot ETFs last week after a long approval process, giving individual investors easy access to the volatile cryptocurrency.