Originally published on: November 08, 2024
BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has quickly surpassed the asset manager’s gold ETF in terms of net assets, despite being launched just earlier this year, according to data from BlackRock.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) now holds over $33 billion in net assets, outpacing the iShares Gold Trust (IAU), which falls just short of that amount, as reported by iShares.
This remarkable achievement is being hailed as “absolutely wild” by Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, considering that IBIT was only launched 10 months ago, while IAU has been in trading since 2005.
The cryptocurrency market saw a significant surge following Donald Trump’s victory in the United States presidential election, with many believing that his win will benefit the industry, according to Cointelegraph Research.
On Nov. 6, IBIT experienced its “biggest volume day ever” as investors turned to cryptocurrencies post Trump’s win, as noted by Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
The following day, IBIT recorded $1.1 billion in inflows, bouncing back from two consecutive days of outflows totaling $113.3 million, based on Farside data.
In the midst of these developments, Bitcoin continued its streak of reaching consecutive daily all-time highs, with its price trading above $76,800.
Bitcoin has emerged as a dominant player in the ETF landscape this year, with six of the top 10 most successful launches in 2024 attributed to the cryptocurrency, according to Geraci.
The approval of Trump as president has signaled a green light for more than half a dozen proposed crypto ETFs awaiting regulatory approval to list in the US.
In 2024, asset managers submitted a slew of regulatory filings to list ETFs holding altcoins like Solana (SOL), XRP, and Litecoin (LTC), among others.
Issuers are also anticipating approval for several planned crypto index ETFs designed to hold diversified baskets of tokens.
These filings were viewed as “call options on a Trump victory” in the US presidential race, as noted by Balchunas on Oct. 25.
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