BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Market Analysis
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) just recorded its largest outflow since its launch a year ago, as U.S. markets returned to trading on January 2.
Record Cash Flow and Financial Information
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF saw record outflows of $330.8 million, or more than 3.5K Bitcoin (BTC) on January 2, according to the CEO of crypto-focused reviews portal Apollo, Thomas Fahrer.
BlackRock ETF outflows accelerate. Source: Thomas Fahrer
This is the largest outflow since the product launched in January 2024, surpassing the previous record of $188.7 million on December 24, according to Farside Investors. This move came after the market closed on New Year's Day, marking the third consecutive trading day with outflows from the BTC investment product. Last week, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust had an outflow of $391 million.
Market Context and Other Cash Flows
Recent outflows may just be a slight setback as BlackRock's fund ranks third in inflows among all ETFs in the United States for 2024 with $37.2 billion, according to data from Bloomberg shared by ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. Leading the pack is the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO) with $116 billion in annual inflows, while the iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) ranks second with $89 billion in annual inflows.
'Maybe by 2025, Bitcoin ETFs will lead with larger inflows and higher prices,' remarked Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back.
Top US ETF in 2024 by inflows. Source: Eric Balchunas
In contrast to BlackRock's outflow trend, Bitwise, Fidelity, and Ark 21Shares have seen inflows of $48.3 million, $36.2 million, and $16.5 million, respectively, on January 2. Grayscale's Bitcoin Mini Trust also had a small inflow of $6.9 million, but the larger GBTC had an outflow of $23 million.
Predictions for the Future of Cryptocurrency ETFs
On January 2, ETF Store President Nate Geraci made several predictions for cryptocurrency ETFs in 2025. These predictions include the launch of ETFs combining BTC and Ether (ETH) spot, ETH spot ETF trading options, innovative and creative conditions for BTC and ETH on the spot market, staking for Ether funds on the spot market, and the approval of a Solana (SOL) spot ETF. 'In fact, all of this will happen,' he said.