Data from CG show that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) currently has more than $10 billion in assets under management (AUM).
According to ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, IBIT is one of only 152 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to hit $10 billion. There are currently around 3,400 ETFs in total.
He noted that IBIT was the quickest to surpass $10 billion in AUM. The fund began trading on January 11, less than two months ago, thus it has risen to its current level in that time. ETF.com said that the first gold ETF did not surpass $10 billion in AUM for two years.
The competitor Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has a higher AUM, with $27 billion in assets under management.
However, GBTC began as an investment fund in 2013 before being converted to an ETF this year, and unlike BlackRock’s IBIT, it did not start with zero assets.
The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), the third largest spot Bitcoin ETF, currently manages $6.5 billion in assets. All 10 existing spot Bitcoin ETFs have a combined AUM of $48.2 billion.
Reasons for IBIT’s Growth
Balchunas suggested that IBIT’s growing AUM was due to inflows.
He stated that ETFs often struggle to reach the first $10 billion in AUM since that value must come from inflows, however the second $10 billion is easy to acquire due to market gains.
IBIT reached $10 billion on March 1
Around that time, the ETF has reported $7.7 billion in inflows since its introduction, including $603 million on February 29. According to Balchunas, this makes IBIT the ETF with the third-longest period of inflows.
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