Grayscale's GBTC is down 50% in Bitcoin holdings since spot ETF launch

Grayscale’s GBTC bitcoin holdings have halved in about three months since the launch of US bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds on January 11.

Unlike the nine new ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity and others, Grayscale’s pre-existing Bitcoin Trust was converted into an ETF rather than launched from scratch – holding around 619,220 BTC

+1.37%
when Bitcoin spot trading began.

GBTC also charges much higher fees than its competitors – 1.5% compared to the current 0.12% fee for BlackRock’s IBIT, for example – and its bitcoin holdings subsequently fell by around 50% to reaching approximately 311,621, according to the fund. disclosures starting Monday.

GBTC bitcoin holdings. Picture: CoinGlass.

However, given the simultaneous rise in the price of Bitcoin since the launch of spot ETFs, GBTC’s US dollar assets under management declined less – down 31%, from a value of $28.7 billion. dollars on January 11 to $19.8 billion at current prices.

BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC spot ETFs were the biggest beneficiaries in terms of market share of bitcoin holdings. GBTC went from 100% of the market on launch day to just 37.3% yesterday, according to The Block’s data dashboard. IBIT gained a 32.2% share over the period, followed by FBTC in third place with 17.8%.

The combined assets held by all US spot bitcoin ETFs now stand at nearly 840,000 BTC – more than 4% of the total supply of 21 million bitcoins.

BlackRock and Grayscale feeds last to stand amid ‘hesitant’ market

For two consecutive trading days, BlackRock’s IBIT and Grayscale’s GBTC were the only spot bitcoin ETFs in the United States to see inflows. IBIT saw inflows of $73.4 million on Monday, but these were outpaced by $110.1 million in outflows from GBTC, resulting in a net outflow of $36.7 million for the day.

This follows net outflows of $55.1 million on Friday, with a total of $82.5 million flowing out of funds after three out of five negative days last week. However, overall net inflows since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs stand at $12.5 billion.

FBTC’s first day of zero flow on Friday means its 63-day entry streak is over – the 16th longest streak in U.S. ETF history. The IBIT is still ongoing, with a current Consecutive 65-day inflowsplacing it at the 14th joint.

“Investors appear to be hesitant since positive price momentum has stopped,” James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares. wrote yesterday.

Hong Kong approves first batch of Bitcoin and Ether spot ETFs

Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission on Monday approved several bitcoin and ether spot ETFs, run by companies including China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera and HashKey.

OSL, sub-custodian and infrastructure service provider for two fund managers, said earlier today that Bitcoin spot funds aim to launch as soon as the end of April, provided interactions with the regulator are running smoothly.

However, while some expect substantial demand for the new products, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas dampened yesterday’s enthusiasm: suggesting Hong Kong crypto ETFs will be “lucky” to attract $500 million in total assets under management.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart agrees, adding: “There are more assets in US-listed Bitcoin ETFs than in EVERY Hong Kong-listed ETF.” Yes, this could be a big problem in the long run. But that’s a whole different animal.

Bitcoin Falls 10% Amid Geopolitical Tensions Four Days Before Halving

Bitcoin is currently trading at $63,459, according to The Block’s price page. The largest cryptocurrency is down 4% over the past 24 hours and 10% over the past week amid geopolitical tensions, but remains up 50% year to date.

BTC/USD price chart. Image: Le bloc/TradingView.

Bitcoin’s halving event – when miners’ block subsidy reward is halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC – is just four days away, according to the Bitcoin Halving Countdown page from The Block.

The estimated countdown is based on Bitcoin’s average block generation time of 10 minutes, setting a potential date of April 20 around 3:30 a.m. UTC (11:30 p.m. ET on April 19), as things stand.

Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet providing news, research and data. Since November 2023, Foresight Ventures has been a majority investor in The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to provide objective, impactful and current information about the crypto industry. Here is our current financial information.