BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has captured attention by reaching an impressive $70 billion in total assets, making this achievement the fastest in the history of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). According to Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas, this milestone was reached just 341 days following its launch, significantly outpacing the previous record set by State Street’s GLD gold ETF, which took nearly 1,700 days to achieve similar success.
As the leading Bitcoin ETF among the twelve currently available, IBIT distinguishes itself in the competitive market. Fidelity’s FBTC and Grayscale’s GBTC follow closely, each managing approximately $20 billion in assets. The introduction of IBIT, along with ten other Bitcoin ETFs by major asset managers at the beginning of last year, marked a pivotal moment in the investment landscape, driven by much-anticipated regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This launch underscored a strong demand from investors eager to take advantage of Bitcoin’s price volatility, with IBIT alone gathering over $1 billion in assets within just four days of its release.
By November, IBIT had surpassed BlackRock’s gold fund in total assets, confirming its status as the largest fund among the 1,400 managed by the asset manager globally. The positive momentum continued into December, when IBIT became the quickest ETF to reach $50 billion in assets, achieving this feat five times faster than BlackRock’s iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF, which took nearly four years to reach the same threshold.
“IBIT’s growth is unprecedented,” stated Bloomberg ETF expert James Seyffart in a recent interview with Fortune Magazine. “It’s the fastest ETF to reach most milestones, outpacing any other ETF across all asset classes.”
The rise of Bitcoin ETFs has paralleled significant increases in the price of the cryptocurrency. Notably, when Bitcoin peaked at an all-time high of $111,900 in late May, the total net assets across all twelve Bitcoin ETFs exceeded $134 billion, highlighting the growing interest in this digital asset class. Following its record high, Bitcoin experienced a pullback, testing a crucial support level at $100,000 on June 5. However, it has recently regained upward momentum, surpassing the $108,400 mark on Monday. With 24-hour gains of 2% and weekly gains of 4%, Bitcoin’s price now sits just 2.7% below its record level, indicating a potential new phase of price discovery after last week’s normal correction.
