BlackRock’s ETF on the verge of surpassing Grayscale, despite second-lowest daily influx

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is steadily gaining market share and closing in on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), according to data from Dune. On April 17, IBIT recorded its second-lowest daily inflows of $24.9 million, compared to its lowest day of $20.4 million on April 9. Despite the low inflows, IBIT’s current market share of 32.6% is approaching GBTC’s market share of 36.8%, making it the largest spot Bitcoin ETF with $19 billion worth of Bitcoin. However, IBIT still falls short by $2.2 billion, as it currently holds $16.8 billion worth of Bitcoin. IBIT flipping GBTC for the top spot is not impossible, especially considering that GBTC’s Bitcoin holdings decreased by 50% since its first day of trading, from 619,220 BTC to the current 308,105 BTC. BlackRock’s Bitcoin accumulation has slowed down since its record day on March 13, when it saw $866 million worth of net inflows. Nevertheless, its Bitcoin ETF holdings have increased by over 10,200% since its launch, from 2,621 BTC to the current 272,550 BTC. On the other hand, GBTC’s outflows have also decreased since March 19, when it experienced $607 million worth of outflows, with only $79 million on April 17. Cumulative ETF inflows have been slowing down since March, with last week seeing $199 million worth of net inflows, down from $2.58 billion in the week beginning March 11. The slowdown in ETF inflows has also contributed to the subdued Bitcoin price, which fell 10.7% during the previous week and was trading at $62,971 as of 12:30 pm UTC. GBTC has been experiencing a significant sell-off since its launch, which can be attributed to its high trading fee of 1.5%, the highest among all U.S. Bitcoin ETF issuers. In contrast, IBIT has a 0.25% trading fee, while Franklin Templeton’s ETF charges only a 0.19% fee.