Bitwise, Fidelity See Biggest Bitcoin ETF Inflow, Grayscale Loses Only $95M in Early Tally

Initial data shows Bitwise's bitcoin ETF (BITB) saw the biggest inflow of cash among the newly issued products that began trading Thursday, followed by Fidelity's fund (FBTC), according to a BitMex Research X post citing Bloomberg data.

Most issuers shared only preliminary data about inflows until Friday's market opening and there might be further delays until Friday evening, Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, noted in an X post. James Butterfill, head of research at digital asset manager CoinShares, said in an email that the full picture might not materialize until early next week.

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Bitwise's BITB hauled in $238 million in net assets on the first day. Fidelity's FBTC received $227 million.

Grayscale's GBTC, which operated as a closed-end fund without allowing redemptions until Thursday, saw $95 million in outflows, less than some observers anticipated.

BlackRock's IBIT, widely expected to be a – if not the – top contender among the newly issued ETFs given the asset manager's clout and size, attracted $110 million of inflows. On Thursday, it had the second-highest first-day trading volume among bitcoin ETFs. However, IBIT held $120 million in bitcoin [BTC] with an additional $112 million in cash as of Thursday, according to the fund's website. Balchunas noted that part of Thursday's inflow might appear in Friday's data.

Spot bitcoin ETFs concluded a massive first day in trading volume, recording $4.6 billion daily volume combined with Grayscale's GBTC and BlackRock's IBIT leading, according to data posted on X by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart.

"Easily the biggest Day One splash in ETF history," Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, commented in an X post.

In comparison, ProShares' futures-based bitcoin ETF (BITO) hauled in $570 million inflows with $1 billion trading volume on its first day in October 2021, launched near the crypto bull market top.

BITO experienced outflows of 3,000 BTC worth roughly $140 million on Thursday as investors likely moved some funds to more user-friendly spot-based ETFs, but the fund's assets were still up through this week, K33 Research data shared with CoinDesk.

Thursday's debut of spot bitcoin ETFs was widely seen as a significant milestone for the digital asset industry as they offer exposure to the largest and oldest cryptocurrency in a format more easily accessed through conventional financial channels, making it easier for mainstream investors to invest in bitcoin.

Industry watchers were expecting billions of dollars of new money finding a way to bitcoin through these products over time. Standard Chartered analysts forecasted that spot ETFs may see $50 billion to $100 billion inflows this year.

UPDATE (Jan. 12, 2024, 17:45 UTC): Adds data about Grayscale's GBTC outflows.