Day two of spot bitcoin ETF trading tops $3.1 billion as Grayscale and BlackRock lead

Markets • January 12, 2024, 4:18PM EST

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Quick Take

The first day of active spot bitcoin trading, largely viewed as a success, was followed by another active day on Friday, with the total volume exceeding $3.1 billion.

Spot bitcoin ETFs continued to live up to the hype in a second day of trading, with total volume of $3.1 billion. That's compared to the $4.6 billion of volume seen Thursday for a cumulative total of nearly $7.7 billion.

Among issuers of new spot bitcoin funds, BlackRock led the way with $564 million traded on Friday, while Fidelity saw $431 million of volume. That's according to data from Yahoo Finance compiled by The Block.

Earlier in the day, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink compared bitcoin to perhaps the most traditional of all assets. "It’s no different than what gold represented over thousands of years," he said. "Unlike gold, we’re almost at the ceiling of the amount of bitcoin that can be created.”

Grayscale's product, which is not new, but rather a conversion of its flagship GBTC fund, ranked as the most active spot bitcoin ETF on Friday, with total volume of $1.8 billion. It had also been the most active ETF on Thursday, with $2.3 billion changing hands.

While Bloomberg analysts initially speculated that most of the fund's first day of volume was likely made up of outflows, on Friday they amended their take by posting to the social media platform X that Grayscale's ETF shed just $95 million on Thursday.

James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence said that result is "a fraction" of what he "and many were thinking." He also added: "This means yesterday was a huge success."

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Bitwise led inflows day one

On day one of trading, the crypto fund manager Bitwise led all rivals with the highest number of inflows with a total of $238 million, followed by Fidelity with $227 million, according to Seyffart.

Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley cheered his company's success on X, saying that every dollar invested in his ETF represents "a decision by investors to trust" his company.

Broadly speaking, the crypto market appears pleased with the first two days of spot bitcoin ETF trading, choosing to view the result as a sign of legitimization that should spur added interest crypto while improving market sentiment.

"Increased investor accessibility to bitcoin, plus the supply decreasing post-halving are possible signs that the crypto market will continue to trend upward throughout 2024," said Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo Platform.

Bitcoin's price declined on Friday, falling 5.2% to $43,765 at 4:07 p.m. ET.

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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.