- The US approval of Spot Bitcoin ETFs has escalated global Bitcoin holdings in ETFs to 1.06 million, totalling US$72.4 billion.
- Grayscale holds the largest fund with 291K BTC; Germany’s BTCetc and Brazil’s HASH11 show significant non-US holdings.
- Future plans include new Bitcoin ETF listings on the Australian Stock Exchange, potentially expanding institutional Bitcoin investments.
The approval of Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US in January has given the global asset class a push. As data from The Bold Report shows, there are currently 1.06 million Bitcoin held in ETFs worldwide, totalling at an impressive US$72.4 billion (AU$108.7 billion).
Related: Michael Saylor Revises View on Ether, Predicts ETF Will Accelerate Crypto Adoption
The largest fund is still the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust with 291.8K BTC, closely followed by BlackRock’s iShares with 279.5K of BTC. The largest non-US holder is in Germany – BTCetc Bitcoin Exchange Traded Crypto, which holds 22.49K of BTC.
The newly listed Hong Kong funds hold a relatively modest number of Bitcoin, while Latin America appears to be a region of growth. Brazil’s HASH11 fund enjoys steady growth with currently 7,903 BTC held.
Meanwhile, Australia currently has the CBOE-listed fund named Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF. The fund by Mirae Asset holds 1003 BTC.
We reported earlier in April on plans for several funds to be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) later this year. Among the issuers are Van Eck and BetaShares Holdings.
The total amount held by these funds globally accounts for close to 5% of all Bitcoin and shows the potential implications further institutional demand might have.
With over US$51 trillion (AU$76.6 trillion) in global pension plans and US$35 billion (AU$52.5 billion) held by US pension funds alone, the possibilities are startling.
Considering that these funds hold around 1% of their assets in gold, if they make similar allocations into BTC – which wasn’t available to them until now – there will be a lot more Bitcoin held by institutions.
Will Ethereum ETFs Follow Path of Bitcoin?
Last week the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the green light for VanEck, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, ARK 21Shares, Fidelity, Grayscale, Invesco Galaxy and Bitwise to list their Spot Ether ETFs on exchanges.
Unlike the BTC ETF, the Ether funds only had their 19b-4 filings approved — to list on exchanges — not their S1 filings. This means they need to have the S1 approved to start trading, which the Bitcoin funds achieved alongside their 19b-4 filings, allowing them to start trading the next day.
Analysts expect the approval will be only a matter of weeks, and trading could begin as early as mid-June. Once approved, it remains to be seen how well the Ether funds will perform compared to the BTC funds.
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