- Spot Bitcoin ETFs have been a smashing success, with massive inflows across the board.
- In general, US exchange-traded funds have been super popular to kick off 2024, recording their second-highest inflow volume for a Q1 ever.
- BlackRock’s fund continues to rake in money, while Grayscale continues to bleed it, as a flip in AUM leaders approaches.
- Meanwhile, the SEC plans to move forward with spot Ether ETF applications after weeks of delays.
Bitcoin has seen a bit of a correction in the past week, with the coin falling 4%. But despite some investors getting cold feet, the spot ETFs continue raging ahead, yet again posting new records. At this point, it almost feels like we can copy and paste the same news article from last week and be done with it: “Breaking – spot ETFs are huge success”. But hey, maybe if we keep pushing just how successful they’ve been, our good friend Gary Gensler might finally admit that spot bitcoin ETFs aren’t all that bad. Maybe.
Related: Bloomberg Analyst Predicts Spot Ethereum ETF Rejection in May
ETFs Across the Board Enjoy Groundbreaking Start to Year
From a macroeconomic perspective, 2024 has started off on the right foot. Inflation is cooling, interest rate hikes have stopped, Bitcoin hit a new all-time high and most stock indices are performing well. Combine this with increased access to financial literature, and investing has become more popular than ever.
Exchange-traded funds in the United States roped in a monster USD $196B (AUD $300B) between Jan and March 2024, the second-highest Q1 on record. The introduction of Bitcoin spot ETFs played no small part in this outcome, with funds like BlackRock’s IBIT dominating the state of play.
Although ETF inflows for crypto funds have impressed, it’s worth noting there’s still a significant amount of money leaving the markets, too. Grayscale’s GBTC still holds over USD $23B (AUD $35B), a figure expected to drop below USD $10B (AUD $15B) sometime this year, as investors convert their holdings to cheaper and easily-redeemable products. Meanwhile, BlackRock’s IBIT is sitting at about USD $18B (AUD $27B) AUM, so the flippening is still a little ways away – although according to analyst Eric Balchunas, it may happen as soon as this month.
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Meanwhile on the ETF front, pessimism has started to set in for the prospects of an Ether ETF approval. However, the SEC has finally moved the process forward, entering a three-week public comment period for applicants. This is the first positive sign in over a month and may rekindle some hope among the industry for an approval in May.
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