Bitcoin ETFs now hold over a million BTC as dominant BlackRock hits new high

At a key date in BitcoinThe history of spot Bitcoin ETFs is writing a new chapter as allocations to the asset have crossed a critical threshold in accelerating interest from investors.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $893 million on Wednesday, according to data from the Farside Investorspushing the funds’ collective Bitcoin holdings to over 1 million BTC. The Wall Street treasury has seen $24.2 billion in inflows since the products were approved in January as it followed in the footsteps of crypto’s founding father.

Pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin Satoshi Nakamotowhich disappeared from the internet in 2011, still holds 1.1 million Bitcoins worth $79 billion today. At the current rate at which Bitcoin ETFs are being absorbed by coins, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas estimated that the crypto pioneer could be overtaken by Wall Street’s eleven-product group in terms of holdings soon.

“At this rate, they’ll pass Satoshi in less than two weeks,” Balchunas he wrote on Twitter (aka X) on Wednesday. He noted the “Joey Chestnut-level pace” at which ETFs are consuming Bitcoin’s supply, referring to the competitive champion.

The milestone was reached just before the 16th anniversary of Bitcoin’s white paper. On Halloween in 2008, Bitcoin’s creator laid out the blueprint for his now preeminent “peer-to-peer electronic cash system” by publishing online his nine-page thesis for Bitcoin’s design.

As Bitcoin tests an all-time high of $73,737 set in March, spot Bitcoin ETFs had two of their best days on record. Representing the fourth best day of inflows for Bitcoin ETFs to date, Tuesday’s allocations of $870 million were followed by Wednesday’s increase to $893 million.

According to Bitwise head of research Ryan Rasmussen, institutional investors are leading the way. While an early wave of inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs was led by retail investors, wealth managers who make investments on behalf of clients are currently catching up.

Large institutions like Merrill Lynch or Wells Fargo have lengthy due diligence and compliance processes, along with investment committees that vet new types of investments several times a year, he said. These companies are “now unlocking their wealth managers,” Rasmussen said.

“Even after ETFs go through these different committees, (institutions) go through a process of educating their advisors on how to talk to clients about Bitcoin or new assets,” he added. “We saw signs of the second wave entering the market earlier this week.”

Wednesday’s avalanche of allocations included a high watermark for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT). About $872 million worth of Bitcoin entered the product on Wednesday, according to data from the Farsidessurpassing the asset manager’s previous daily peak of $849 million in March.

Fidelity’s Bitcoin ETF saw the second-highest inflows on Wednesday, at just $12.6 million, while Bitwise’s BITB was the biggest loser, with nearly $24 million in exits.

BlackRock’s stunning performance on Wednesday brought its Bitcoin ETF’s holdings to around 429,000, rising above the world’s largest holder of corporate Bitcoin treasury reserves. MicroStrategyat 252,000 BTC.

While MicroStrategy, the self-proclaimed Bitcoin development company, has institutional investors owning its stock, Rasmussen said the BlackRock brand ultimately proved more palatable among the Wall Street wealth management crowd.

“They trust BlackRock,” he said. “They can say, ‘Look, the biggest institution in the world supports Bitcoin in a big way,’ so it’s not this contrarian view that it used to be.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward