BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is steadily closing in on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in terms of market share. On April 17, IBIT recorded its second-lowest daily inflows of $24.9 million, following its lowest day of $20.4 million on April 9, according to data from Dune. Despite this, IBIT’s current market share of 32.6% is approaching GBTC’s market share of 36.8%, which holds $19 billion worth of Bitcoin.
IBIT potentially overtaking GBTC is not out of the question, especially considering that GBTC’s Bitcoin holdings have fallen by 50% since its first day of trading on January 11, from 619,220 BTC to the current 308,105 BTC.
When it comes to accumulation patterns, BlackRock’s Bitcoin accumulation has slowed down since its record day on March 13, when it saw $866 million worth of net inflows. However, its Bitcoin ETF holdings have increased over 10,200%, from 2,621 BTC at launch to the current 272,550 BTC.
On the other hand, Grayscale’s Bitcoin selling has also slowed down since March 19, when it experienced $607 million worth of outflows, which was its fourth-largest day of outflows since inception. In comparison, on April 17, GBTC outflows were at $79 million.
Overall, cumulative ETF inflows have been decreasing since March. Last week, there were net inflows of over $199 million into the ETFs, compared to $2.58 billion in the week starting March 11.
The slowing ETF inflows have had an impact on the price of Bitcoin, which fell 10.7% during the previous week and was trading at $62,971 as of 12:30 pm UTC.
Grayscale’s GBTC has experienced significant selling pressure for Bitcoin since its launch, mainly due to its high trading fee of 1.5%, the highest among all U.S. Bitcoin ETF issuers. In comparison, Grayscale’s IBIT has a trading fee of 0.25%, while Franklin Templeton’s ETF charges only 0.19%.
Despite the market dynamics, the top five BTC miners have not been selling their Bitcoin holdings, even with the Bitcoin halving approaching.