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International Business Times
International Business Times
Business
Marvie Basilan

BlackRock's IBIT Retains Lead As Spot Bitcoin ETFs Log 15-Day Inflow Streak

BlackRock's IBIT has been a popular choice since the SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs for trading in January. BlackRock YouTube | Bitcoin ETFs (Credit: BlackRock YouTube Channel/Screenshot)

KEY POINTS

  • Grayscale's GBTC still saw significant outflows in the past month
  • Fidelity's FBTC is catching up to BlackRock's IBIT as it saw $900K in inflows
  • US spot BTC ETFs propelled interest for the funds in other countries

Investment management titan BlackRock's spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) IBIT is still the leading fund among others, as the spot BTC ETF pack logged 15 days of consecutive inflows.

According to senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs hit a 15-day inflow streak Tuesday and raked in a stellar $2.4 billion in the past month alone. "The ability to bounce back w/ renewed interest after a couple nasty selloffs is rare for hot sauce type strategies," he pointed out.

The selloffs were mostly experienced by digital asset manager Grayscale. Its Bitcoin ETF GBTC has suffered significant outflows since the ETFs started trading in January, and analysts have said this could be due to the fund's management fee that's significantly higher than IBIT and several others.

In a chart posted by Balchunas, IBIT accounted for $1.1 million of the inflows in the past month, and Fidelity's FBTC was close behind with some $937,000.

While GBTC saw significant outflows as well last month, the overall performance of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs during May still "shows staying power," Balchunas noted.

American Bitcoin ETFs, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made the historical decision to approve the funds for trading in January, paved the way for more interest in the funds around the world. On Tuesday, Australian asset manager Monochrome's IBTC went live on Cboe Australia, marking another milestone in the global journey of the emerging financial products.

Late in April, Asia's first spot BTC and Ether (ETH) ETFs started trading, signaling growing crypto adoption in the region. Thailand's SEC has approved the country's first Bitcoin ETF, albeit with the fund having limited availability: only to wealthy and institutional investors.

Still, U.S. Bitcoin ETFs are leading the way in the global adoption of the burgeoning funds. On Tuesday alone, American BTC ETFs saw $105 million in inflows, as per a post by prominent crypto investor Lark Davis.

It remains to be seen how the funds will move once spot Ether ETFs begin trading following the recent approval of 19b-4 filings lodged by exchanges.

Ether, the native digital asset of the Ethereum blockchain and the second-largest crypto in the world, has a long way to go before it can achieve the level at which Bitcoin is performing. Some analysts believe the initial reaction of the crypto market to the ETH ETFs will be negative.

On the other hand, many crypto users believe the products will have a positive effect on the industry as a whole, as it could drive wider adoption of digital assets.

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