Australian Spot Bitcoin ETFs See Steady Inflow, While US Funds Struggle
- Monochrome’s IBTC ETF, Australia’s first ETF to directly hold Bitcoin, has continued to grow despite significant outflows from the US-based ETFs last week — IBTC now holds 125 BTC.
- Most of the US-based ETFs saw daily net outflows last week: BlackRock’s IBIT fund saw only its second daily net outflows, losing over US$13 million on Thursday.
- Combined, the US funds saw daily net outflows every day last week, excluding Monday.
Despite the US-based Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) seeing significant net outflows at the backend of last week, Australia’s Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) continues to grow, now holding 125 BTC.
As Bitcoin and the wider crypto market have cooled recently, interest in the US-based Bitcoin spot ETFs has also waned, leading to combined net outflows from the ETFs on every day last week, excluding Monday.
By contrast, Monochrome’s IBTC continued to see inflows last week, growing its BTC holdings slightly, although the value of its assets under management (AUD) declined due to the drop in the price of Bitcoin.
Related: Breaking: Australia’s First Bitcoin ETF Directly Holding BTC Goes Live on CBOE
Aussie Bitcoin ETF Strong Despite Market Downturn
Monochrome’s IBTC ETF first launched in June of this year on the Cboe Australia Exchange, becoming the first Australian-based Bitcoin ETF to directly hold Bitcoin.
The primary benefit of Bitcoin ETFs like Monochorome’s IBTC for investors is that they allow investors to gain easy exposure to Bitcoin without having to understand the more esoteric aspects of cryptocurrency ownership, such as securely storing pass-phrases and managing a cold wallet.
Since its launch, IBTC has seen fairly consistent growth and as of August 28, it held 125 Bitcoin valued at AU$10,691,763.
Even in the face of a cooling crypto market, IBTC has continued to grow: in the past week, its Bitcoin holding increased from 121 to 125 BTC, while the value of its AUM dropped slightly in line with the drop in Bitcoin’s price.
US-Based ETFs Lose Investors
The US ETFs, however, haven’t fared quite as well.
Data from Farside Investors shows almost all the individual ETFs saw daily net outflows last week. The largest US-based Bitcoin ETF, BlackRock’s IBIT, saw its second-ever daily net outflows on Thursday, losing just over US$13 million (AU$19.22 million) — while Ark’s ARKB fund saw an eye-watering US$102 million (AU$150.82 million) net outflow on Tuesday.
Combined, the US ETFs lost:
- US$127.1 million (AU$187.94 million) on Tuesday
- US$105.3 million (AU$155.71 million) on Wednesday
- US$71.8 million (AU$106.17 million) on Thursday, and
- US$175.6 million (AU$259.67 million) on Friday
That makes it one of the worst weeks for the Bitcoin ETFs since their launch in January.
Related: Analysts Point to Returning “Appetite” for Bitcoin Amid Change in Market Sentiment
With September historically being a difficult month for Bitcoin we may not have seen the last of red candles and ETF outflows just yet. The next few weeks may present a good buying opportunity for those who believe in Bitcoin’s longer-term prospects.