The launch of the spot Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds) in January 2024 marked a perfect start to the year for the cryptocurrency industry. These crypto investment products were expected to walk the extra mile for the premier cryptocurrency, drawing in more investors into the digital assets space.
BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund IBIT has been the leader of the pack — as expected, breaking records and attracting significant, fresh capital week in and week out. In one of those feats, the Bitcoin ETF has now surpassed BlackRock’s gold fund in terms of net assets.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Exceeds $33 Billion In Net Assets
As of Thursday, November 7, BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with the ticker IBIT holds net assets of nearly $33.2 billion. This figure puts the Bitcoin ETF just above its gold counterpart (with ticker IAU), which has about $32.9 billion in net assets.
What makes this feat more impressive is the fact that BlackRock’s IBIT only just began trading in January 2024 — alongside 10 other Bitcoin ETFs. Meanwhile, the asset manager’s gold fund had a 20-year head start, as it commenced trading as far back as January 2005.
ETF Store President Nate Geraci revealed this in a post on the X platform on Thursday, coinciding with the day IBIT returned to positive inflows with its largest capital influx ever. According to data from SoSoValue, BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund recorded a massive $1.12 billion net inflow.
This impressive single-day performance represents a significant turnaround from a series of negative outflows for the crypto fund. IBIT registered a cumulative outflow of $113 million on Tuesday, November 5, and Wednesday, November 6.
BlackRock’s IBIT also leads the US Bitcoin ETF market in terms of net assets; Grayscale’s GBTC and Fidelity come in second and third with $16.8 billion and $14.58 billion, respectively. Ark & 21Shares’ ETF (with ticker ARKB) and Bitwise’s fund (with ticker BITB) make up the top five.
Bitcoin Price Overview
Crypto enthusiasts will be on the lookout for a more significant capital influx for BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, as history suggests that the Bitcoin price correlates positively to such funds movement. As shown with Thursday’s price action, the premier cryptocurrency successfully broke above the 76,000 mark.
As of this writing, the price of Bitcoin stands above $76,500 after briefly breaking above $77,000 on Friday. According to CoinGecko data, the market leader is up by more than 10% in the past week.
The price of Bitcoin approaching $77,000 on the daily timeframe | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView