It’s been three months since the spot Bitcoin ETF began trading, and BlackRock’s fund appears to be on pace to surpass Grayscale as the largest cryptocurrency-based investment vehicle currently offered.
As of Tuesday, BlackRock’s IBIT fund had $18.2 billion in assets under management, compared with Grayscale’s $23.2 billion, according to Trackinsight data compiled by The Block Data Dashboard.
As Grayscale’s GBTC fund, which charges higher fees than BlackRock, has been steadily withdrawing capital since the start of trading, BlackRock’s ETF is also gradually narrowing the gap in terms of assets under management (AUM). Grayscale’s funds had about $23.4 billion in AUM two months ago, compared with BlackRock’s $4.4 billion, according to The Block Data Dashboard.
Grayscale’s ETFs launched with nearly $30 billion in AUM as the company’s exchange-traded fund was converted into a flagship fund. Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, said the fund’s AUM decline was likely due in part to Genesis selling GBTC stock.
In terms of trading volume, Grayscale Fund’s market share is gradually decreasing from about 50% at the time of the launch of the spot Bitcoin ETF on January 11 to 23.5% as of Tuesday.
Grayscale’s fund saw outflows of $154.9 million on Tuesday, while BlackRock’s funds saw inflows of $128.7 million.
Fidelity’s Spot Bitcoin ETF ranks third in volume market share and AUM.
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About the author
RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block, covering a variety of topics including US-based companies, blockchain games, NFTs, and more. He previously covered entertainment for The Wall Street Journal, writing about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy, focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previously, she covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil at Bloomberg. She interviewed a wide range of figures for RT, including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers, and convicted criminals. She holds a Master’s degree in Digital Sociology.