The response Bitcoin ETFs have been getting so far has been astonishing. Nine spot Bitcoin ETFs accumulated 100,000 BTC in just seven days, achieving a milestone that took MicroStrategy approximately 300 days to reach.
While Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF has been dumping BTCs in the past few days, with more than 80,000 BTC being dumped since the launch, other spot Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated after having piled more than 100,000 BTCs.
Among the nine spot Bitcoin ETFs include the names of investment giants like BlackRock and Fidelity. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), and the rest of the seven spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively purchased 102,613 BTC after the trading was launched on January 11, 2024, following the approval given by the SEC.
The data was tracked by Cointelegraph, which has also presented a metric from CoinGecko, which reports that the amount accumulated in BTC is worth around $4.1 Billion (at the time of writing).
To help you understand why this is an impressive feat, the amount accumulated in BTC is at least half of all the Bitcoin MicroStrategy, which is hailed as the biggest accumulator and holder of BTC, managed to gather in almost three years.
MicroStrategy published a report after their most recent acquisition of BTC, stating that the firm holds an aggregate of 189,150 BTCs. The report was published on December 26 of last year.
The business intelligence and analytics company, known for its expertise in providing software solutions that enable organizations to analyze and visualize their data, started to buy Bitcoin in August 2020. It crossed the 100,000 BTC mark in approximately 300 days when it announced on June 2021 that it was holding 105,085 BTC.
Its former CEO, Michael Saylor, has been a big advocate of Bitcoin. Saylor had invested heavily in Bitcoin and has been vocal about his belief that it is a superior store of value to traditional assets like gold.
As per publicly available information, BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC have emerged as the most significant purchasers of Bitcoin among spot BTC ETFs since their trading debut. They have acquired 37,304 BTC and 29,232 BTC, respectively. Following these two firms are the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), which have purchased 16,451 BTC and 10,630 BTC, respectively.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), holding the highest BTC holdings among Bitcoin ETFs, has consistently divested from Bitcoin since the trading launch. It has sold 82,526 BTC, equivalent to approximately $3 billion (at the time of writing).
People have been wondering why GBTC has been going against the tide compared to others, as they have sold vast amounts in BTCs. The answer can be related to the firm’s relation with FTX.
A sizable chunk of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares, amounting to 22 million worth nearly $1 billion, were recently sold by FTX’s bankruptcy estate. This substantial sale capitalized on the price difference between GBTC shares and the underlying bitcoin’s net asset value. With FTX exiting the scene, selling pressure on GBTC is expected to ease moving forward.
While this is not the sole reason, it does play a major part in GBTC’s current actions. The massive GBTC selling triggered a significant drop in the price of Bitcoin.
While crypto influencers decided to raise hopes of the general community that the ETF launch would push the price of Bitcoin to at least greater than $50k, in reality, it took a significant fall from $48k, which was the price of Bitcoin on January 11, 2024, when ETFs were launched and is currently sitting at $40k, which is nearly a 20% drop.
Many analysts have also proposed that the substantial outflows from GBTC may be linked to its elevated trading fees. As reported earlier, GBTC imposes trading fees of up to 1.5% without waivers, a rate significantly higher than those set by other ETF sponsors, ranging between 0.2% and 0.4%, and often including temporary fee waivers.
This might also be why GBTC is experiencing high outflows, as investors might want to switch to a trading platform that is charging lower fees to make higher gains.
