BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF draws in over $1 billion so far this week

Spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S. reported total daily net inflows of $470.48 million on Thursday, extending the positive flows that continued this week. The 12 funds have accumulated over $1.85 billion in net inflows so far this week.

“Favorable macroeconomic conditions are [playing] a crucial role; central banks around the globe are lowering interest rates, driving investors toward alternative assets,” said Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst of BTC +0.93% Markets.

Thursday’s inflows were led by BlackRock’s IBIT, the largest spot bitcoin ETF by net assets, which recorded $309 million in inflows yesterday, according to data from SoSoValue. The bitcoin fund has seen net inflows of over $1.07 billion this week, potentially marking its largest weekly inflow since mid-March.

Among other spot ETFs, Ark and 21Shares’ ARKB had over $100 million in net inflows on Thursday. Grayscale’s GBTC saw $45.70 million in net inflows, while Fidelity’s FBTC reported inflows worth $11.69 million. The bitcoin ETF from Franklin Templeton also saw net inflows of $3.88 million yesterday. The seven other spot bitcoin ETFs recorded no flows. 

The 12 bitcoin ETFs reported around $1.47 billion in total trading volume on Thursday, down from $1.58 billion the day before. Their cumulative total net inflows since the January launch stood at $20.66 billion.

On Wednesday, their cumulative inflows crossed the $20 billion mark, which Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas described as the “most difficult metric” to grow in the ETF world. “For context, it took gold ETFs about five years to reach [the] same number,” Balchunas wrote on X.

Ether ETFs logged positive flows

Spot ether ETFs reported net inflows of $48.41 million on Thursday, the largest daily positive flows since Sept. 27.

Fidelity’s FETH led the inflows with $31.12 million, followed by $23.56 million into BlackRock’s ETHA. Grayscale’s mini trust, Bitwise’s ETHW, Invesco’s QETH and 21Shares’ CETH also reported daily net inflows.

Thursday’s net inflows were partially offset by $15.74 million in net outflows from Grayscale’s ETHE, the only net negative flows for the day.

The U.S. spot ether ETFs traded a total of $126.7 million on Thursday. Since their launch, these funds have experienced cumulative net outflows of $481.90 million, representing a shift from the negative $686.68 million recorded on Sept. 23.

Meanwhile, bitcoin rose 1.06% in the past 24 hours to change hands at $67,944, according to The Block’s crypto price page . Ether added 0.12% to trade at $2,624.

“A strong BTC inflow might be a positive sign of things to come as we head into the final weeks of the election campaign, but patience will likely be required before we can make new all-time highs anytime soon,” said Augustine Fan, head of insights at SOFA.org.