On Feb. 9, Ark Invest reported that its ARKB ETF had crossed $1 billion in Bitcoin holdings. “This isn’t just a number – it’s a testament to the growing trust and interest in digital assets,” it stated.
The milestone was also commented on by Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart, who said it suggests that Ark had a big flow day on Friday.
“Bitwise’s BITB on price appreciation alone is around $830 million right now,” he said before adding, “They’re probably relatively close behind ARKB.”
According to Farside, Ark 21Shares did indeed have a big day with $135.5 million in BTC inflows.
Appears we have a 3rd US spot #Bitcoin ETF to cross the $1 billion mark. https://t.co/iBtr1iUfrW
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) February 9, 2024
Bitcoin ETF Inflows
Preliminary figures indicate that Fidelity also had a big inflow day with $188.4 million, the highest for the firm this week.
Grayscale continues to see outflows, but they have slowed considerably. On Friday, around $51.8 million in BTC left the fund, the lowest outflow figure for the week.
Flow numbers for BlackRock had not been reported at the time of writing.
On Feb. 9, fellow ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted a chart of the top 25 ETFs by assets after one month on the market out of 5,535 total launches over the past 30 years.
BlackRock (IBIT) and Fidelity (FBTC) were “in a league of their own,” he said. They both have more than $3 billion each and have not been trading for a full month yet. This shows that there is a clear demand for Bitcoin-based ETFs compared to other asset classes.
Here’s a look at the Top 25 ETFs by assets after 1 month on the market (out of 5,535 total launches in 30yrs). $IBIT and $FBTC in league of own w/ over $3b each and they still have two days to go. $ARKB and $BITB also made list. pic.twitter.com/Yyi1nxukUk
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 8, 2024
On Feb. 10, ETF Store President Nate Geraci reported that there would be no Bitcoin ETF advertising at this year’s Superbowl on Sunday, Feb. 12.
This is not a huge surprise “given the cost and paltry ETF expense ratios,” but would have created “enormous buzz,” he said.
Crypto Markets Push Higher
Crypto markets have ended the week in the green, gaining $150 billion since Monday, Feb 5. Total capitalization was up to $1.87 trillion at the time of writing, its highest level since April 2022.
Bitcoin prices tapped a monthly high of $48,000 in late trading on Friday before retreating a little into the weekend.
The asset is currently close to resistance levels it could not overcome last month when the Bitcoin ETFs were launched, could this time be different?
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