Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley envisions a surge in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) among wealth management firms, anticipating an uptick in their Bitcoin holdings. This forecast coincides with the broader market sentiment, indicating a growing appetite for ETFs, especially with Bitcoin’s ETFs gaining momentum post-halving.
Horsley’s foresight dovetails with the prevalent market sentiment that ETFs are in high demand, particularly evidenced by Bitcoin’s positive net inflow into the United States ETF market just before the Bitcoin halving, following a series of consecutive days of depletion.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is narrowing the gap with Grayscale’s holding, lagging by only $2 billion. This positions BlackRock to potentially surpass Grayscale as the world’s largest Bitcoin fund. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) underwent a 68-day period of value decline, shedding nearly $16 billion and reducing its assets to $19.4 billion.
Contrarily, IBIT witnessed continuous asset growth, amassing around $17.3 billion in total assets. However, notable capital outflows were observed from Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF. In just the last five days, investors withdrew $89.9 million, contributing to a net outflow of $1.6 billion since January.
Despite Grayscale’s initial lead, its dominance in the Bitcoin ETF market appears to be waning. Fidelity and BlackRock swiftly gained significant market shares at the outset of trading. For instance, Fidelity and BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETFs witnessed net inflows of $37.3 million and $18.7 million, respectively, in the same week, alleviating some of the market’s liquidity concerns.
In a related development, Bitcoin mining stocks surged across the board ahead of the halving event. Bitwise CEO describes the adoption of Bitcoin ETFs by registered investment advisers (RIAs) and multifamily offices as “stealthy but significant.” He notes major financial entities are quietly conducting thorough evaluations of the Bitcoin market.
According to Farside data, GBTC experienced outflows of $17.5 million on April 10, marking a significant decrease from the $154.9 million outflows recorded on April 9. The previous low was on February 26 when GBTC saw outflows of $22.4 million. The daily average outflow from GBTC since January stands at $257.8 million.
GBTC, launched in 2015 and converted to an ETF in January, was part of the launch of nine other spot Bitcoin ETFs after Grayscale won a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, compelling a review of a previously denied GBTC conversion bid.
The bankrupt crypto lending firm Genesis recently divested approximately 36 million GBTC shares to acquire 32,041 Bitcoin.
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