Key Points
- U.S. Bitcoin ETFs have collectively accumulated over 1 million BTC, surpassing the holdings of Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
- Despite a recent decline in inflows, Bitcoin ETFs now manage assets totaling $70.86 billion, representing 5.12% of Bitcoin’s market cap.
Bitcoin ETFs Surpass Satoshi Nakamoto’s Holdings
U.S. Bitcoin [BTC] ETFs, less than a year after their launch, have collectively accumulated over 1 million BTC. This milestone was predicted by Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, who had projected it to happen by mid-December. However, the purchase of 12,127 BTC in a single day by BlackRock, according to Lookonchain, has accelerated this timeline.
Balchunas commented on this accumulation, stating, “At this rate, they’ll pass Satoshi in less than two weeks. Altho they can’t keep up this Joey Chestnut-level pace, can they?” At the time of writing, BlackRock held 429,185 BTC, valued at approximately $30.8 billion.
Are ETF Inflows Slowing Down?
Previously, it was reported that on 30 October, BlackRock’s IBIT marked its largest single-day inflow since January. This surge in investment followed a trend of daily triple-digit total net inflows since 23 October. However, daily total net inflows dipped to $32.14 million on 31 October. Moreover, only IBIT and the CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund ETF (BRRR) brought in $318.80 million and $1.89 million, respectively.
Despite this decline, Balchunas revealed that IBIT managed to attract more cash than the total of 13,227 ETFs worldwide over the past week. He emphasized that this achievement is particularly significant for an ETF that is still under a year old.
Industry Experts Weigh In
IBIT’s remarkable performance didn’t go unnoticed by industry experts. Nate Geraci, President of the ETF Store, shared his perspective, stating, “This thing is turning into a $$$ vacuum cleaner.” He highlighted that BTC ETFs’ $70 billion in assets was more than 50% of the $130 billion held by gold ETFs since 2004—All within just 10 months of their 2024 launch.
Quinten Francois, Co-founder of WeRate, echoed this sentiment, stating, “Bitcoin ETFs had more inflows in the last 2 days than the Gold ETF took in during its entire first year.”
Bitcoin Turns 16
On its 16th anniversary, the Uptober rally ended with Bitcoin dipping below the $70,000-mark. At press time, it was valued at $69,821, down by 3.33% over the last 24 hours. This downturn poses an intriguing question – Could this be an opportunity for institutional investors to “buy the dip” and takeover Nakamoto sooner than expected?
