30 May 2024
American multinational investment company BlackRock, has recently achieved a monumental milestone, recording over $20 billion in total assets. The BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF has successfully surpassed Grayscale to become the largest Bitcoin fund in the world.
BlackRock Overtakes Grayscale
BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust has recently become the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, overtaking its primary rival, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
As of Tuesday, May 28, BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF held around $19.68 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM), overthrowing Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF with $19.65 billion and surpassing the third largest, Fidelity Investments, which recorded $11.1 billion in AUM. Over the past two days, BlackRock has recorded more inflows, pushing its AUM to more than $20 billion presently.
Following the launch of its Spot Bitcoin ETF on January 11, Grayscale has consistently recorded massive outflows worth billions of dollars. For years, the asset management company was the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, reaching a peak of about $44 billion in 2021.
However, since its conversion into an ETF at the beginning of 2024, investors have pulled out almost $18 billion from Grayscale’s Bitcoin fund. On May 3, GBTC recorded its first inflow, receiving approximately $63 million, and effectively ending its 82-day streak of outflows.
Its previous outflows had already significantly weakened Grayscale’s position as the largest Bitcoin ETF. In contrast, BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF has been recording millions of inflows since its launch, making it unsurprising that IBIT has eventually surpassed Grayscale’s GBTC.
BlackRock has only recorded a handful of outflows and minimal zero flows. Its highest recorded inflow occurred on March 12, with IBIT gathering approximately $849 million in a single day. Additionally, BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF witnessed its first outflow on May 1, losing about $36.9 million. On the same day, Grayscale had reported outflows of more than $167 million.
Investors are likely favoring BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF due to its relatively affordable ETF management fees, which decreased from 0.30% to 0.25%. On the other hand, Grayscale has the highest ETF management fees among all the 11 approved United States Spot Bitcoin ETFs.
While the asset management company has promised to slash fees, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust’s current ETF management fees remain as high as 1.5% annually.
Still Leading Spot Bitcoin ETF Net Inflows
According to Farside data, for the past week, BlackRock has been leading the Spot Bitcoin ETF race, recording the most inflows out of the 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Excluding May 27, when all United States Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw zero flows, BlackRock recorded a total of $127.1 million for the first two days. BlackRock’s Bitcoin Trust saw $102.5 million in inflows on Wednesday, while Grayscale’s Spot Bitcoin ETF witnessed outflows of $105.2 million. Currently, Grayscale is still recording more outflows, losing $31.1 million as of writing.