BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust reported its single-day outflow on January 2, adding to a shaky start to this year in the Bitcoin ETF market. According to statistics from SoSoValue, $332.62 million was pulled out of the IBIT fund on that day, reaching an all-time high since its launch on January 11, 2024.
This giant outflow formed part of a wider trend. Upon the reopening of trade after the New Year’s holiday, collective outflows in the 12 U.S. Bitcoin ETFs were at $242.3 million. To IBIT, this now means the third day of withdrawals, summing up $392.6 million cumulative from the winning run.
Despite the recent setbacks, BlackRock’s IBIT was the largest player among all U.S. ETFs by total inflows in the first quarter this year, fetching 37.2 billion dollars in investments. These include the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VOO), which brought in 116 billion dollars in this category and 89 billion in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, according to Bloomberg Analyst Eric Balchunas.
Here's final 2024 Top 20 ETF Leaderboard: $VOO ended w/ $116b which is $65b beyond old record (absurd). $IVV closed strong w $89b (bc used more than $SPY for TLH?). $IBIT took 3rd spot w $37b (still <1yr old!). Total flows at $1.14T, which broke old record by 25%, or $225b..🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/RRCbHEAN9Q
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) January 2, 2025
Bitcoin ETFs See Record Outflows As Competitors Gain
While BlackRock’s fund struggled, other competitors like Bitwise’s BITB, Fidelity’s FBTC, and Ark 21Shares’ ARKB saw notable inflows on the same day, with $48.31 million, $36.2 million, and $16.54 million, respectively. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust and VanEck’s HODL also logged modest inflows of $6.89 million and $5.51 million, respectively, as Grayscale’s flagship GBTC fund witnessed a $23.13 million outflow.
That translates into the total trading volume of these cryptocurrency investment products leaping to $3.24 billion on January 2, considerably higher from $2.25 billion on the previous trading day. Bitcoin was up 2% over the last 24 hours, changing hands at $96,893 at the time of writing.
It was an equally wild ride in the Ether ETF market, where the nine spot ETFs collectively witnessed outflows amounting to $77.51 million on Jan 2. The biggest outflows were Bitwise’s ETHW, which lost $56.11 mln, and Grayscale’s ETHE fund, which lost $21.4 mln. The remaining seven funds did not witness outflows.
The Ethereum price was up 1.7% over the last day, changing hands at $3,458 per coin.ETF Store President Nate Geraci made the following predictions for the crypto ETF market in 2025: “Combined spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs will reach the market.
Options trading on spot Ether ETFs will begin to trade. In-kind creation and redemption mechanisms will be implemented for Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. Geraci also expected the launch of staking functionality for Ether funds and the approval of a spot Solana ETF. He seemed so sure: “Actually, these will all happen.”
The recent outflows from BlackRock’s IBIT and other Bitcoin ETFs reflect a changing landscape for crypto investing. As the sector matures, investors adjust their strategies, and the advent of innovative ETF products could, as Geraci said, set the course for the next wave of growth in cryptocurrency ETFs.
