Bitwise CEO, Hunter Horsley, has made a forecast that wealth management firms will increase their holdings in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This prediction aligns with the general market belief that there is a growing demand for ETFs, especially with the upcoming Bitcoin halving event.
Recent data shows that Bitcoin investments in the US ETF market experienced a positive inflow just before the halving, following five consecutive days of outflows. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is closing in on Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), with just a $2 billion difference. This positions BlackRock to potentially become the world’s largest Bitcoin fund, surpassing Grayscale. GBTC has seen a decline in its value over a 68-day period, losing nearly $16 billion and reducing its assets to $19.4 billion.
On the other hand, IBIT has shown continuous asset growth, reaching a total of approximately $17.3 billion. However, Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF has experienced notable capital outflows, with investors withdrawing $89.9 million in the past five days alone. Since January, there has been a net outflow of $1.6 billion from GBTC.
Despite Grayscale’s early lead, its dominance in the Bitcoin ETF market seems to be diminishing. Fidelity and BlackRock have quickly gained significant market shares since the beginning of trading. For example, Fidelity and BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of $37.3 million and $18.7 million respectively in the same week, providing some relief to the market’s liquidity issues.
According to data from Farside, GBTC experienced outflows of $17.5 million on April 10, which is a significant decrease from the $154.9 million outflows recorded on April 9. The lowest outflow was on February 26 when GBTC saw $22.4 million being withdrawn. The average daily outflow from GBTC since January is $257.8 million.
GBTC was launched in 2015 and converted to an ETF in January, along with the launch of nine other spot Bitcoin ETFs, after Grayscale won a lawsuit against the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. This forced the commission to review its previous denial of GBTC’s conversion bid.
In other news, bankrupt crypto lending firm Genesis recently sold approximately 36 million GBTC shares to acquire 32,041 Bitcoin.
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