BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has reached a significant milestone, surpassing $10 billion in assets under management (AUM) in just seven weeks since its launch on January 11. This achievement comes after the fund secured its second-largest daily inflows on Thursday.
In terms of bitcoin holdings, BlackRock’s IBIT fund now manages over 162,000 BTC, equivalent to $10 billion, while Fidelity’s FBTC has amassed more than 105,000 BTC, totaling $6.3 billion in assets.
Commenting on IBIT’s achievement, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas remarked, “IBIT is the newest member of the $10 Billion Club, fastest ever to get there.” He added, “First $10 billion [is tough] because so much has to come from flows (in IBIT’s case 78% of AUM is flows). Second $10 billion easier because market appreciation [is a] bigger variable.”
Nate Geraci, President of The ETF Store, provided further context, stating, “For context, only about 150 out of 3,400 ETFs have more than $10 billion in AUM. The vast majority of those launched 10+ years ago.”
Among other spot bitcoin ETFs, Ark Invest 21 Shares’ ARKB holds over 34,000 BTC, amounting to $2.1 billion, while the combined assets of the nine newborn spot bitcoin ETFs, excluding Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund, exceed 344,000 BTC, totaling $21 billion. In contrast, Grayscale’s higher fee GBTC fund has seen a decrease in assets, dropping to just over 432,000 BTC from around 619,000 BTC since the introduction of spot bitcoin ETFs.
Despite IBIT’s record inflows of $603.9 million on Thursday, nearly offsetting the $598.9 million outflows from Grayscale’s converted fund, the net inflows for all U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs combined amounted to $92.4 million, a significant decrease from the record set on Wednesday.
Globally, bitcoin investment vehicles absorbed 119,604 BTC, equivalent to $7.4 billion, in February, marking a new monthly high, according to K33 Research analyst Vetle Lunde. This surpasses the peak flow observed in December 2020.