In the last two trading days, spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have shown remarkable strength, surpassing Bitcoin production by miners over tenfold. Preliminary data reveals that on February 12, these ETFs attracted a staggering $493.4 million, equivalent to approximately 10,280 Bitcoin at the current rate of $52,262 per BTC. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust took the lead, attracting a substantial $374.7 million, followed by Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund with $151.9 million and Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF with $40 million. Despite Grayscale outflows of $95 million and $20.8 million from the Invesco Galaxy ETF, the net inflows reached almost half a billion dollars.
On the same day, Bitcoin miners produced around 1,059 BTC, valued at roughly $51 million, representing merely 10% of the Bitcoin absorbed by spot ETFs. A similar trend was observed on February 9, with approximately 12,700 BTC or $541.5 million flowing into ETFs, compared to 980 BTC, worth around $45 million, added through mining. BlackRock led the way with a $250.7 million inflow, and Fidelity followed with $188.4 million. Ark 21Shares experienced significant inflows of $136.5 million, while Grayscale outflows decreased to their lowest level for the week at $51.8 million. These cumulative inflows over 30 days account for 5% of the entire tradable supply of Bitcoin.
In a parallel development, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), achieved a milestone by surpassing 100,000 BTC under management on February 13. The data from BlackRock indicates that IBIT accumulated a total of 105,280 BTC, making it the first spot Bitcoin ETF in the United States to reach this level within 22 days of trading, among the other nine spot Bitcoin ETFs, excluding Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC).
BlackRock’s aggressive BTC buying since the January 11, 2024, launch has seen the iShares Bitcoin Trust’s holdings multiply by more than 3,700%, growing from 2,621 BTC on January 11 to 100,000 BTC on February 13. Notably, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund also actively grew its holdings to 83,925 BTC as of February 13.
Amidst these achievements, GBTC emerged as the only spot Bitcoin ETF actively reducing its BTC holdings, decreasing by 25% to 463,475 BTC by February 13. IBIT’s BTC holdings milestone coincided with spot Bitcoin ETFs posting another record in terms of daily net inflows, totaling $631.3 million from 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs, with $493 million flowing into iShares Bitcoin ETF alone.
Online crypto observers suggest that BlackRock may have struggled to meet the demand from the massive inflows into the iShares Bitcoin ETF recently, with reports of having to purchase BTC from Coinbase as over-the-counter sellers ran out of coins. These developments unfolded amid Bitcoin’s noteworthy growth, surpassing $51,000 for the first time since November 2021, reclaiming a $1-trillion market capitalization on February 14. Current trading at $51,383 reflects an over 20% increase over the past 30 days, while the Crypto Fear & Greed Index reaches levels not seen since Bitcoin’s all-time high at $69,000 in mid-November 2021.
