According to a trading report published today, Thursday, January 18, IBIT’s holding comprises 99% of Bitcoin tokens and almost $60,000 worth of fiat currencies. The ETF now holds about 25,067 coins, as per the update.
ALSO READ: BlackRock’s IBIT ETF Holdings Hit 806,000 BTC Following Latest Acquisition
BlackRock says the money is coming from different investors
Rachel Aguirre, BlackRock’s head of ETF products, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that trading activity in IBIT was “coming in from multiple directions.”
Aguirre said investors were not simply moving money from Grayscale’s GBTC. She pointed to retail investors, self-directed investors, and people who had been waiting for a spot Bitcoin ETF.
That matters because the ETF structure gives investors another way to gain Bitcoin exposure without buying and storing Bitcoin themselves. For some investors, using a brokerage account may be easier than dealing with a crypto exchange or managing private keys.
The early demand also showed the competition among asset managers. BlackRock was competing with several newly approved funds, including products from Fidelity and other major financial firms.
The milestone was an early measure of demand
Reaching $1 billion quickly was notable, but the first few trading days did not show whether that demand would last. ETF assets can rise or fall as Bitcoin’s price changes and investors add or remove money.
The bigger test was whether these funds could keep attracting investors after the launch period. Strong trading volumes could also make Bitcoin ETFs easier to trade by supporting tighter spreads and deeper markets.
For Bitcoin, the arrival of spot ETFs changed how traditional investors could access the asset. The early performance of IBIT showed significant interest in that route.
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