Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) traded in the United States collectively held approximately 1.07 million BTC as of November 14, worth nearly $96 billion at current prices.
Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart pointed out that ETFs could soon exceed The reserve of the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, estimated at 1.1 million BTC.
Additionally, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, pointed out that BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) exceeded $40 billion in assets under management (AUM) in 211 days, placing it among the top 1% of all ETFs.
Balchunas added that IBIT surpassed the threshold 6 times faster than the 1,253 days it took for the previous record holder, the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG).
More than 2 billion dollars
According to data from Farside Investors, U.S.-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen around $2.4 billion in inflows this week so far.. IBIT leads the pack with almost $1.8 billion in inflows, or almost 73% of the total.
The amount of inflows is already higher than last week’s $1.6 billion, assuming no significant outflows hit Bitcoin ETFs this week.
A recent Glassnode report highlighted a sea change in investor behavior, consisting of a preference for spot exposure to Bitcoin via ETFs rather than futures.
The report based its analysis on the November 12 perpetual peak in futures market premiums, remaining below March levels, indicating that spot buying pressure is the primary catalyst behind Bitcoin’s current rally to new heights.
Does Vanguard intervene?
ETF Store CEO Nate Geraci predicted that investment giant Vanguard would eventually cave and begin offering Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) spot ETFs on its brokerage platform. The company hso far it has been reluctant to add crypto products, notoriously declaring that he doesn’t see the point in adding it to long-term portfolios when ETFs launched earlier this year.
Seyffart agreed with Geraci’s prediction and request for an estimate of when capitulation would take place. Geraci responded that it would “for sure” happen next year, as long as BTC doesn’t collapse by then, which would instead trigger a “media victory tour.”
On the other hand, Balchunas is not convinced that Vanguard will divest based on the success of Bitcoin, given the size of the investment company. Nonetheless, he said Vanguard’s decision to refrain from adding crypto ETFs to its platform was a bad decision.