BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), iShares Bitcoin ETF ($IBIT), has amassed over 222,591.8 BTC tokens in its asset portfolio since its January launch, as per recent data published on March 14 by BitMEX Research.
According to the data, $IBIT records daily inflows of investments exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars. On Wednesday, March 13, 2024, the fund saw a net inflow of $849 million, contributing to the overall record net inflow of $1 billion observed across all spot Bitcoin ETFs on the same day. These numbers indicate that the IBIT ETF is only about $12 billion behind the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust Shares (GBTC), which has the largest bitcoin holdings among the newly launched ETFs.
BlackRock’s $IBIT’s Bitcoin holdings now represent roughly 10% of the total Bitcoin supply available across all crypto exchanges, placing it on par with MicroStrategy’s holdings. However, a key distinction lies in MicroStrategy’s direct ownership of Bitcoin assets, whereas BlackRock manages assets on behalf of its clients.
MicroStrategy, a US-based business intelligence company, has been actively purchasing Bitcoin since 2020, when it announced it was adopting the token as its primary reserve asset. At the time, the company’s CEO, Michael Saylor, described Bitcoin as a “reliable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash.” Recently, the company announced plans to raise over $700 million by selling convertible notes to investors to increase its Bitcoin holdings.
This massive inflow of Bitcoin assets into the $IBIT indicates the increasing institutional interest in virtual currencies and their perceived value as a hedge against mainstream market unpredictability. Analysts and pundits believe that the continued accumulation of Bitcoin by institutional investors like BlackRock and Fidelity Investments could trigger a parabolic growth of Bitcoin’s price.
If you want to read more news articles like this, visit DeFi Planet and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and CoinMarketCap Community.
“Take control of your crypto portfolio with MARKETS PRO, DeFi Planet’s suite of analytics tools.”
