‘Simply Absurd’ ...

‘Simply Absurd’ Spot Bitcoin ETFs Mark a Stellar Two-Month Run

By Aaron Feuerstein March 12, 2024 In Bitcoin, Blackrock, ETFs, Microstrategy

In just two months since the approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs, they have amassed over USD $55 billion in assets and USD $110 billion in volume.
Bloomberg ETF analyst describes this as “absurdly” successful.
This comes as BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC ETFs astonishingly rank third and fourth in year-to-date flows for all ETFs—not just Spot Bitcoin ETFs.
MicroStrategy reclaimed its position as largest Bitcoin holder with a recent acquisition, pushing its total Bitcoin holdings to 205,000.

It has only been two months since the Spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved—yet for anyone closely following the inception of the nine (Spot Bitcoin ETFs excluding Grayscale) it has felt a lot longer.

Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, Eric Balchunas, can attest to that. On the platform formerly known as Twitter, he commented on the USD $55 billion (AUD $83 billion) in assets and USD $110 billion (AUD $166 billion) volume:

First two months officially in the books (felt like six) and the ten bitcoin ETFs now have over $55b in assets with exactly double that in volume at $110b. If these were the numbers at the end of year I’d call them a success. To do it in eight weeks is simply absurd.

Eric Balchunas

The analyst said another unexpected development is that Blackrock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC rank as the third and fourth highest in year-to-date flows among all ETFs by mid-March. This places them ahead of ETF champions like Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund VTI and just behind iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO. Certainly not a result to be sneezed at.

Balchunas is optimistic that this growth—something he called “a good first year in just two months”—sets a strong foundation for further growth, as he puts it unemotional:

Ok to think bigger now.

Eric Balchunas

While he believes the nine can eventually overtake gold ETFs, the tech sector is a different beast altogether—urging investors to cool their jets and not go haywire with predictions.

How The Turns Table—Once Again

Meanwhile, tables have reversed once more for BlackRock and MicroStrategy (MSTR). As reported, iShares IBIT Spot Bitcoin ETF briefly overtook Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy as the largest holder of BTC on Monday.

At the time IBIT held 195,985 Bitcoin, data which has since not been officially updated.

Also on Monday MicroStrategy revealed it acquired around 12,000 further BTC for approx. USD $821.7 million (AUD $1.24 billion). The purchases made between February 26 and March 10, 2024 increase MSTR’s total Bitcoin holdings to 205,000 Bitcoin—surpassing BlackRock.

Author

Aaron Feuerstein

Aaron Feuerstein is a freelance writer based in Melbourne. His focus is on decentralised finance and the regulatory space surrounding blockchain. He holds a Master's in Accounting. When he is not studying the latest legal case, he enjoys his time as a modest but eager hobby cook.