BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF sees record-breaking $872 million net inflows, surpassing March peak

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the largest spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund by net assets in the U.S., registered over $872 million in net inflows on Wednesday. This marks the fund’s largest inflow since its January launch, surpassing the previous record high on March 12.

“The recent surge in BlackRock’s IBIT inflows is driven by several key factors, including central banks’ global shift towards reducing interest rates, which has boosted liquidity and made capital more accessible for investors,” said Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst of BTCMarkets, adding that the anticipation of a pro-crypto Donald Trump win in the U.S. presidential election might have further boosted this trend.

Overall, the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs recorded $893.21 million in net inflows on Wednesday, marking their second-highest total, according to data from SoSoValue. Six other spot bitcoin ETFs also reported net inflows on Wednesday, with $12.57 million going into Fidelity’s FBTC. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB, VanEck’s HODL and Invesco’s BTCO each saw modest net inflows of under $8 million.

Bitwise’s BITB was the only fund to record net outflows on the day, with $23.89 million exiting the ETF. The four remaining funds, including Grayscale’s GBTC, recorded zero flows for the day. 

Wednesday’s net inflows brought the ETFs’ cumulative total inflows to $24.18 billion. The 12 funds’ trading volume reached $1.97 billion traded yesterday, down from $4.75 billion the day before.

“In the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election, BTC ETFs are likely to experience increased inflows as investors look to hedge against potential economic and policy shifts,” Lucas said. “This period could bring elevated volatility as markets react to polling data, policy announcements, and debates on the regulatory landscape for digital assets.”

The U.S. presidential election is set for Nov. 5. Former President Trump is leading by a significant margin on crypto-based betting platform Polymarket, while current Vice President Kamala Harris holds a 1.4% lead over Trump on FiveThirtyEight’s national poll aggregate.

According to The Block’s bitcoin price page, bitcoin edged down 0.28% over the past 24 hours to $72,300. It climbed near its all-time high earlier this week, hovering around $73,500.

“In the short term, all eyes are on whether bitcoin can reach a new all-time high,” said Min Jung, researcher at Presto Research. “If it breaks past this resistance ($73.8K), it could trigger a rally as those waiting for a breakout move into the market.”

Jung explained that the main focus post-election would be the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting, scheduled a few days after the U.S. election, as well as a series of big-tech earnings reports.

Surpassing Satoshi Nakamoto

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas wrote on X that it is likely that the “Herculean” amount of inflows into IBIT pushed the number of bitcoins held by U.S. spot ETFs over the 1 million mark.

Balchunas predicted that by the end of November, spot bitcoin ETFs may become the top bitcoin holder in the world, surpassing the approximately 1.1 million BTC held by bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

Balchunas also noted that spot bitcoin ETF buying “started mostly retail” but has become increasingly institutional, with institutional shares of spot ETFs likely to reach 40% within a year.

Ether ETFs saw inflows

Spot Ether ETFs saw positive but minimal net inflows yesterday, totaling $4.36 million. Fidelity’s FETH reported $5.32 million in net inflows, while 21Shares’ CETH saw $2.66 million flow into the product. Bitwise’s ETHW logged $3.63 million in net outflows.

The total trading volume of the nine spot ether ETFs remained relatively low compared to initial expectations, with $220 million traded among the spot ether ETFs yesterday. Their cumulative outflows amounted to $493.57 million on Wednesday.