BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust Overtakes GBTC to Become World’s Largest BTC Fund

As a researcher with a background in finance and experience tracking the cryptocurrency market, I find the recent flippening of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) by BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) to be an intriguing development. The data from HODL15Capital indicating that IBIT recorded net inflows while GBTC experienced outflows, resulting in IBIT surpassing GBTC as the world’s largest exchange-traded fund offering exposure to Bitcoin, is a significant shift.


The iShares Bitcoin Trust from BlackRock now holds more Bitcoin than Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, making it the biggest Bitcoin exchange-traded fund available for investors seeking to follow the price of Bitcoin.

According to HODL15Capital’s data, IBIT recorded $102.5 million in net inflows on May 28th, while GBTC experienced outflows totaling $105 million. Consequently, IBIT’s Bitcoin holdings have grown to 288,670 coins, surpassing GBTC’s current stockpile of 287,450. It’s important to note that GBTC previously held a much larger stash of around 620,000 Bitcoins when it attempted to transform into a spot Bitcoin ETF.

As an analyst, I’m excited to report that the Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) offered by BlackRock, symbolized as $IBIT, has recently surpassed Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, represented by $GBTC, in terms of assets under management.— HODL15Capital 🇺🇸 (@HODL15Capital) May 29, 2024

Experts explain that the recent trend can be linked to Grayscale’s increased fees, causing investors to favor BlackRock due to its more affordable options. This shift occurred as GBTC transformed into a spot Bitcoin ETF and several similar ETFs began trading in the US.

As a crypto investor, I’m excited to note that BlackRock has been making moves in the Bitcoin market recently. Specifically, some of their income and bond-focused funds have acquired shares in the iShares Bitcoin Trust. From my perspective, this could be a significant development as BlackRock is one of the world’s largest asset managers, and their decision to invest in Bitcoin through an ETF shows that they see value in this digital asset class.

The Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (BSIIX) allocated approximately $3.56 million to purchasing IBIT shares, while the Strategic Global Bond Fund (MAWIX) spent around $485,000 on acquiring IBIT shares. These investments represent minuscule proportions of their respective portfolios, with IBIT stocks accounting for less than 0.01% and 0.006% of the total assets managed by the Income Opportunities Fund ($37.4 billion) and Global Bond Fund ($776.4 million), respectively.

This week, the combined Bitcoin holdings in all spot Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) surpassed the 1 million BTC mark. A significant portion of these Bitcoins, approximately 60%, is stored in US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs.

As a crypto investor, I’d observe that Bitcoin is presently priced at around $67,800 following a weekly decline of over 3.2%. This downturn can be attributed to a string of transactions originating from the defunct digital currency exchange, Mt. Gox.

The more recent financial dealings have revived concerns among creditors, who stand to gain a share of the $9 billion Bitcoin stash that Mt. Gox has kept since its 2014 insolvency, about a possible forced sale.

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2024-05-29 16:57