Tech
BlackRock’s $20 billion ETF is now the world’s largest bitcoin fund, dethroning rival Grayscale trust
The point bitcoin The Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) held $19.68 billion of tokens on Tuesday, dethroning the $19.65 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. The third largest is Fidelity Investments’ $11.1 billion offering.
BlackRock and Fidelity’s bitcoin spot ETFs were among nine that debuted on Jan. 11, the same day the more than decade-old Grayscale vehicle converted to an ETF. The launches were a watershed moment for cryptocurrencies, making bitcoin more accessible to investors and spurring a rally in the token to a record $73,798 by March.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust has attracted the largest inflow, totaling $16.5 billion, since it launched in January, while investors have withdrawn $17.7 billion from the Grayscale fund over the same period. The latter’s higher commissions and arbitrageurs’ exits were cited as possible outflow factors.
Samara Cohen (center), investment manager of exchange-traded funds and index investing at BlackRock, rings the opening bell on the Nasdaq Exchange as the first U.S. bitcoin spot ETFs launch in New York City on the 11th January 2024. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Neither BlackRock nor Grayscale Investments immediately responded to requests for comment outside normal U.S. business hours.
Grayscale plans to launch a clone of its main fund, according to a March regulatory filing, and fees are expected to be lower, a person familiar with the matter said at the time.
The company created the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust in 2013 and it has become known as the largest vehicle of its kind. But shares of the closed-end product sometimes traded at substantial premiums or discounts to net asset value, prompting Grayscale to push for a conversion to an ETF to ensure trading at par.
The bitcoin fund group – with $58.5 billion in assets to date – has been hailed as one of the most successful new ETF categories. But critics argue that volatile digital assets are not suited to widespread adoption, even within ETFs.
Some nations, like Singapore and China, curb or ban investor access. In the USA Avant-garde group A spokesperson said in January that the company has no plans to offer cryptocurrency-related products. BlackRock and Vanguard are the two largest asset managers in the world.
Bitcoin’s value has quadrupled since the start of last year, helped by ETFs, in a powerful recovery from a bear market in 2022. The token was up about 1% at $68,797 at 12.48pm on Wednesday in Singapore.