On May 29th, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Spot ETF (IBIT) surpassed Grayscale’s GBTC to become the largest Bitcoin spot ETF in terms of assets under management. According to HODL1 Capital data, on May 28th, IBIT received approximately $102 million (1,503 BTC) in inflows, bringing its total holdings to over 288,670 BTC, equivalent to a value of $19.795 billion. On the same day, GBTC experienced outflows of over $105 million (1,543 BTC), making it the largest outflow in the past two weeks. GBTC currently holds approximately 287,450 BTC, with a value of $19.758 billion. IBIT now holds a BTC position larger than GBTC by over $30 million, making it the largest Bitcoin spot ETF in the world.
Within just four months since its launch, IBIT has attracted approximately $20 billion worth of BTC, making it one of the fastest-growing ETFs in history. According to data from BlackRock’s official website, as of May 30th, IBIT had an average daily trading volume of $24.72 million over the past 30 days.
Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst from Bloomberg, commented on IBIT’s impressive performance, stating that it is a legend in its own right. Only one ETF in history has reached $20 billion in assets under management in less than 1,000 days, and that was achieved by JEPI in 985 days. IBIT, on the other hand, reached the same milestone in just approximately 137 days.
According to SoSoValue data, IBIT had positive inflows for over three consecutive months from its launch on January 11th until mid-April. The first day of trading saw inflows of over $110 million when the price of BTC was $46,000. On March 12th, the highest inflow was recorded at approximately $848 million, followed by a historical high BTC price of $73,700 on March 13th.
Eric Balchunas attributed IBIT’s growth to its low fees, high liquidity, and the strong brand influence of BlackRock’s iShares. He also noted that although the total number of trades on IBIT has decreased recently, the average trade size has increased, indicating that larger institutional investors have replaced retail investors.
The outflows from GBTC can be attributed to its high management fees, which are approximately 5-6 times higher than its competitors. GBTC charges a management fee of around 1.5%, while Bitcoin spot ETFs have fees of around 0.2% or lower. Additionally, investors in GBTC face the risk of premiums or discounts due to the inability to redeem their shares directly. The price of GBTC is often at a premium or discount to its net asset value. On the other hand, Bitcoin spot ETFs directly hold Bitcoin and their prices are in line with the market price, eliminating the risk of premiums or discounts.
Since the approval of GBTC’s conversion into a Bitcoin spot ETF by the SEC in January, allowing investors to redeem their fund shares for cash, GBTC has experienced continuous outflows. As of May 30th, GBTC’s assets under management were valued at $19.28 billion, with approximately 332,000 BTC having been withdrawn over the past four months, while still holding around 287,000 BTC.
IBIT’s assets under management have now surpassed $200 million, and it has become a new driving force behind the Bitcoin price trend. Market maker Wintermute stated that this represents a significant shift in the BTC supply-demand dynamics, as investors will now focus on the inflows and outflows of IBIT rather than GBTC. This shift in attention may also drive more users to pay attention to Bitcoin ETFs or the underlying BTC itself.
As of May 30th, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs reached $57.683 billion, with IBIT holding a market share of over 33.7%. There are three Bitcoin ETFs with assets over $10 billion, including IBIT ($19.48 billion), GBTC ($19.28 billion), and FBTC ($10.94 billion). Bitcoin spot ETFs, represented by IBIT, are becoming the gateway for traditional capital to enter the cryptocurrency field. Compared to the previous wave of institutional investors brought in by Grayscale, the entry of funds from global asset management giants like BlackRock is of much larger magnitude.
