BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund nears $18bn in assets despite investors’ ‘wavering’ appetite for ETFs

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF has amassed almost $18 billion in assets.
That makes the fund part of the 3% biggest ETFs of all time.
Even so, CoinShares analysts detected a “wavering” appetite for the Bitcoin ETFs among investors.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has raked in almost $18 billion in assets since it launched on January 11.

That puts the fund among the top 3% ETFs ever launched, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X.

It is now 88th among all spot ETFs and is bigger than BlackRock’s emerging-markets ETF, its Japan ETF, its US Treasury bond ETF, and VanEck’s semiconductor ETF — all “veteran” funds, according to Balchunas.

And neither BlackRock’s nor Fidelity Investment’s Bitcoin ETFs have suffered outflows in the last 60 days.

Moderating appetite

Bitcoin ETFs saw $643 million in inflows last week, CoinShares wrote in a Monday report, while total inflows into crypto instrument products have reached $13.8 billion since the start of the year — over 30% more than its previous yearly record, in 2021.

“Despite this, there are signs that appetite from ETF investors is moderating,” CoinShares said, pointing out that weekly flows had failed to achieve the same levels as they did in early March.

Weekly trading volumes have fallen 59% since the beginning of March, to a little over $17 billion from $43 billion.

Nevertheless, short Bitcoin investment products saw outflows for the third consecutive week. CoinShares attributed the $9.5 million in outflows to a “minor capitulation amongst bearish investors.”

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Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, meanwhile, suffered further outflows — more than $731 million left the fund last week. Over $15 billion has exited the fund since it converted into an ETF.

But Bitcoin’s price appreciation — the top cryptocurrency is up 54% since the Securities and Exchange Commission approved the investment vehicles — means that Grayscale’s ETF still has almost $22 billion in assets.

Asked whether Grayscale was the worst-performing ETF of all time, Balchunas replied:

“Worst performing no, it’s up big! Worst outflows ever, yes.”

Tom Carreras is a markets correspondent at DL News. Got a tip about Bitcoin and markets? Reach out at tcarreras@dlnews.com