BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund crossed 500,000 BTC ($48 billion) in assets under management on Monday, less than a year after trading began on Jan. 11.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF had already accumulated 496,854 BTC as of Nov. 29, according to its latest fund disclosures. IBIT’s $338.3 million ( about 3,526 BTC) worth of net inflows yesterday was enough to tip it over the milestone, reaching 500,380 BTC, according to K33 data.
“IBIT's BTC holdings surpassed half a million BTC yesterday,” K33 Head of Research Vetle Lunde posted on X. “Crazy that BlackRock's IBIT has now accumulated over 500k BTC in just 233 trading days, Kairos Research co-founder Ian Unsworth added. “That's 2.38% of the total amount of bitcoin that will ever exist.”
IBIT bitcoin holdings. Image: K33.
Speaking to Fox Business after IBIT crossed the 250,000 BTC level in March, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, "IBIT is the fastest-growing ETF in the history of ETFs," adding his surprise at how much bitcoin had gone up. Bitcoin was trading for around $69,000 then and has since gained a further 38%, currently changing hands for around $95,321, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Price Page.
Overall, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted $353.6 million in net inflows on Monday, continuing a positive run that saw them add a record $6.6 billion in November. According to data compiled by The Block, their cumulative net inflows since the funds launched now total $31.2 billion.
The combined U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs are quickly closing in on the 1.1 million BTC estimated to be held by the cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, with around 20,000 BTC left to reach the milestone.
Satoshi Nakamoto's estimated holdings are based on a detailed analysis of early bitcoin mining patterns conducted by researchers such as Sergio Demian Lerner, who identified a specific "Patoshi Pattern" in the blockchain. Satoshi is thought to have mined around 22,000 of the first blocks, which, when multiplied by the 50 BTC block subsidy reward at the time, yields the 1.1 million BTC figure.
However, some researchers argue that the figure could be overstated due to overlapping mining patterns or unverified assumptions about Satoshi's activity during Bitcoin's early days, suggesting it could be more like 600,000 BTC to 700,000 BTC. Others have estimated Satoshi's bitcoin holdings to be as high as 1.5 million BTC.
Meanwhile, the U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs registered $24.2 million worth of net inflows on Monday, led by BlackRock’s ETHA with $55.9 million. Overall, the ETFs generated a record $1.1 billion in net inflows during November.
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