With
three
full
days
of
trading
in
the
books
as
of
the
close
of
business
on
Tuesday,
net
inflows
into
the
newly
approved
spot
bitcoin
exchange-traded
funds
appear
to
be
about
21,000
bitcoin
(BTC),
or
$894
million
at
the
current
price
of
$42,600.
Of
the
new
money,
BlackRock’s
iShares
Bitcoin
Trust
(IBIT)
leads
the
way
by
adding
16,362
bitcoin,
followed
by
Fidelity’s
Wise
Origin
Bitcoin
Fund
(FBTC)
with
12,112
bitcoin.
Sizable
exits
from
Grayscale’s
Bitcoin
Trust
(GBTC),
which
has
lost
about
25,000
bitcoin,
brought
down
the
overall
industry
inflow.
Until
the
U.S.
Securities
and
Exchange
Commission
blessed
bitcoin
ETFs
last
week,
GBTC
had
existed
as
a
closed-end
fund.
It
was
converted
into
an
ETF
as
the
other
new
products
from
the
likes
of
BlackRock
debuted
last
week.
GBTC
had
charged
customers
a
2%
management
fee
and
held
about
630,000
bitcoin
prior
to
the
spot
ETF
approvals.
While
the
ETF
version
of
GBTC
charges
a
reduced
management
fee
of
1.5%,
that
is
still
at
least
100
basis
points
more
than
its
new
competitors.
In
addition,
its
conversion
to
an
ETF
meant
the
fund
no
longer
traded
at
a
discount
to
net
asset
value
(NAV).
Combined,
these
two
factors
have
given
GBTC
holders
good
reason
to
sell
and
the
early
returns
suggest
that’s
occurring.
Nonetheless,
the
new
money
coming
into
the
ETFs
overshadowed
that,
leading
to
the
net
inflows
into
ETFs
overall.
Price
action
has
been
far
quieter
this
week,
with
bitcoin
mostly
settling
into
the
$42,000-$43,000
range.
At
press
time,
it’s
lower
by
just
over
1%
over
the
past
24
hours,
slightly
underperforming
the
0.6%
drop
in
the
CoinDesk
20
Index,
which
tracks
the
world’s
largest
and
most
liquid
cryptocurrencies.
Read
more:
‘The
Dow’
for
Crypto
Markets?
New
CoinDesk
20
Index
Underpins
Futures
Contracts
at
Bullish
Bitcoin
ETFs:
Bust
or
not?
The
debate
has
now
shifted
to
whether
the
bitcoin
ETF
launch
was
a
success
or
a
bust.
For
the
ETF
world
in
general,
the
new
products
have
been
a
rousing
success,
argued
Bloomberg’s
Eric
Balchunas,
noting
$10
billion
in
trading
volume
for
the
new
funds
in
their
first
three
days.
He
said
there
were
500
ETF
launches
in
2023
and,
combined,
they
did
just
$450
million
in
volume
during
the
whole
year.
The
bust
crowd
points
to
the
lame
price
action
since
launch
(bitcoin
is
lower
by
nearly
10%),
the
sizable
proportion
of
selling
action
seen
from
GBTC
and
early
net
inflows
that,
while
sizable,
have
fallen
short
of
some
bullish
forecasts
in
the
billions.
“Markets
make
opinions,”
said
Richard
Russell,
the
late
editor
of
“Dow
Theory
Letters.”
If
prices
remain
flat
to
lower
for
much
longer,
the
“bust”
contingent
will
likely
claim
victory,
but
if
bitcoin
goes
on
to
take
out
$50,000
this
year
and
perhaps
challenge
its
all-time
high
above
$65,000,
the
ETFs
will
surely
be
thought
of
as
a
major
success.
