BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) experienced its first day of no inflows since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in January.
Since its inception on Jan 11, IBIT has consistently attracted millions of dollars in daily investments, totaling around $15.5 billion in just 71 days. However, BlackRock’s streak of inflows came to an end on April 24, recording zero inflows.
Most other participants in the Bitcoin ETF market also faced a dry spell. Out of the 11 Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S., only Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) saw inflows of $5.6 million and $4.2 million, respectively.
On the other hand, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) continued to face outflows. On April 24, GBTC reported $130.4 million in outflows, resulting in net outflows of $120.6 million for spot Bitcoin ETFs on that day.
While IBIT had not experienced zero inflows before, this trend was observed among other ETF participants as well. Fidelity’s FBTC, for instance, saw three days of zero inflows in the past two weeks.
Overall, the U.S. Bitcoin ETF market has gathered a net of $12.3 billion in Bitcoin. However, the outflows from GBTC offset some of the inflows from the other ten Bitcoin ETFs, with outflows from GBTC exceeding $17 billion since Jan. 11.
Eric Balchunas, Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst, recently praised the 71-day streak of continuous inflows for the IBIT ETF. This streak has placed BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF among the top ten funds of all time by another measure.
Despite the success of the ETF, Balchunas noted that there is still a long way to go to reach the top rank. The fund’s assets of $18.27 billion rank it in the top 3% of all ETFs ever created.
The success of the ETF can be attributed to institutions gradually increasing their exposure to Bitcoin. Balchunas described Bitcoin as “hot sauce” on top of larger portfolios for these companies.
However, BlackRock’s tokenized fund, BUIDL, which launched on the Ethereum blockchain on March 20, has not seen significant investor interest. Although BUIDL saw a 200% increase in a few weeks, on-chain data shows that most of the fund’s assets are spread across 11 wallets.