BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF crosses $15 billion in AUM amid record inflow and volume

Quick Take

  • BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin ETF has reached $15 billion in assets under management just two months after the fund began trading.
  • IBIT also witnessed its largest daily inflows on Tuesday — adding $849 million — with net flows into all the ETFs combined exceeding a record $1 billion.
  • IBIT also dominated yesterday’s volume, generating a new record of $4 billion in trading.

BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund reached $15 billion in assets under management on March 12 after securing its largest daily inflows since it launched exactly two months earlier.

In bitcoin terms, BlackRock’s IBIT fund has reached more than 212,000 ($15.4 billion) under management, while Fidelity’s FBTC has surpassed 126,000 bitcoin ($9.2 billion) in assets, according to data from BitMEX Research. Ark Invest 21 Shares’ ARKB is in third with over 38,000 bitcoin ($2.8 billion) in assets.

The newborn nine spot bitcoin ETFs — excluding Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund — now exceed 422,000 bitcoin in assets ($31 billion) in total.

Meanwhile, the assets underlying Grayscale’s higher-fee GBTC fund have dropped by 38% to just under 381,000 bitcoin ($27 billion) from around 619,000 bitcoin ($45 billion) since the spot bitcoin ETFs began trading.

“GBTC has seen the second most outflows of any ETF in the last 15 years cumulatively,” Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X. “Only EEM has seen more (which is interesting because that's the ETF that inspired BlackRock to invent the mini-me move with IEMG which Grayscale is doing with BTC and GLD did with GLDM).”

Globally, bitcoin under management by investment vehicles is now at more than 1 million bitcoin ($78 billion), according to K33 Research. “March 12, 2024, saw the second-strongest net inflows to BTC investment vehicles ever. 16,979 BTC absorbed in one day,” K33 analyst Vetle Lunde said. “Net inflows to all regions apart from Europe yesterday. BTC investment vehicles are now managing 1,068,683 BTC.”

Bitcoin under management by investment vehicles. Image: K33 Research.

Record daily inflows for BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF

BlackRock’s IBIT ETF witnessed its largest daily inflow of $849 million on Tuesday — helping to push net inflows for all the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs to a record of more than $1 billion. Total net inflows since the ETFs began trading now stand at $11.1 billion, per BitMEX Research.

IBIT also generates record daily trading volume

BlackRock’s IBIT ETF also led yesterday’s volume, generating a new record $4 billion in trading. Grayscale’s GBTC and Fidelity’s FBTC generated $1.8 billion and $1.6 billion of trading volume, respectively, according to The Block’s Data Dashboard.

Daily trading volume for the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs combined hit the second-largest level of $8.7 billion on Tuesday as bitcoin’s price continued to make fresh highs. Record daily trading volume for the ETFs currently stands at $9.9 billion, set on March 5 — when bitcoin first broke its prior all-time high of $69,000.

“Second biggest volume day for the ten and best day in the past five with $8.7 billion (only five stocks traded more),” Balchunas added. “IBIT went crazy again (double GLD volume) but the middle of pack really seeing pick-up, [Invesco’s] BTCO and [VanEck’s] HODL did $150 million and $250 million, huge for them.”

Bitcoin is currently trading at $73,289, up 2% over the past 24 hours and 9% during the last week, according to The Block’s price page. Bitcoin reached its latest all-time high of $73,710 earlier on Wednesday.

BTC/USD price chart. Image: The Block/TradingView.


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About Author

James Hunt is a reporter at The Block and writer of The Daily newsletter, keeping you up to speed on the latest crypto news every weekday. Prior to joining The Block in 2022, James spent four years as a freelance writer in the industry, contributing to both publications and crypto project content. James’ coverage spans everything from Bitcoin and Ethereum to Layer 2 scaling solutions, avant-garde DeFi protocols, evolving DAO governance structures, trending NFTs and memecoins, regulatory landscapes, crypto company deals and the latest market updates. You can get in touch with James on Telegram or 𝕏 via @humanjets or email him at [email protected].

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