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Bitcoin ETF Surges: Last 4 Days Inflows Outpace Initial Weeks

Bitcoin (BTC) Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) are currently in the limelight as the products have seen massive net inflows in the past few days than in the initial weeks of introduction, dominating the market of crypto investment products.

Bitcoin ETF Inflows Surges In The Last 4 Days

Thomas Fahrer, the co-founder of Bitcoin tracking platform Apollo, took to the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share the development with the community. Fahrer pointed out that BTC spot ETFs are presently experiencing a “total acceleration” of inflows.

Meanwhile, the products in the past 4 days have witnessed an inflow of 43,000 BTC tokens valued at $2.3 billion. This latest surge in inflows suggests renewed adoption of the products from crypto players and investors.

Data from Apollo reveals that Grayscale is the leading firm in Assets Under Management (AUM). Registered as Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the company boasts a whopping $23.7 billion AUM.

However, this is a notable drop from $28 billion in assets it had on January 11, after transitioning to an ETF. This is due to the daily net outflows the fund has seen since it was approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Blackrock comes in second after Grayscale, with an asset under management of over $5 billion since it started trading. It is followed by Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (FBTC) and Ark/21Shares Bitcoin Trust (ARKB), which come in third and fourth place, respectively.

Investment firm Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB) is the latest company to reach the billion-dollar milestone. As of the press, the company’s BTC ETF is the fifth largest behind the aforementioned asset management companies.

Blackrock Records Its Largest Inflow

On Tuesday, Blackrock recorded its largest inflow day ever since Bitcoin ET products were approved. A senior Bloomberg Intelligence analyst, Eric Balchunas, revealed information regarding the update on X.

He stated that Blackrock’s BTC ETF was booming on Tuesday, seeing almost “half a billion” inflow. According to the data shared by Balchunas, IBIT made $493 million in revenue during the trading day.

IBIT’s previous largest daily net inflow was $386 million, recorded on the second trading day of January 12. Consequently, Blackrock’s Bitcoin ETF overall inflow exceeded the $5 billion mark after the Tuesday event. So far, of all ETFs, Blackrock’s IBIT leads by “7% by size in just 23 days of trading.”

These developments came in light of the recent rally around Bitcoin in the past few days, which took BTC’s price above $ 50,000. Many market enthusiasts believe that a major factor in the rally is the reason surrounding the BTC ETF flows.

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Ethereum ETF: Franklin Templeton Enters The Fray As ETH Rallies

Wall Street titan and Asset manager Franklin Templeton has applied for an Ethereum Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) after a struggle to gain approval for their Bitcoin Spot ETF in early January.

Asset Manager Files For Spot Ethereum ETF

Asset managers have gravitated toward the Ethereum spot ETF since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the Spot Bitcoin ETF. Franklin Templeton is the latest manager to apply with the SEC to get approval for this financial product. 

The asset manager’s move came after successfully introducing the BTC spot ETFs. This is a notable step toward making more crypto investment products accessible to institutional and individual investors.

James Seyffart, a senior analyst from Bloomberg Intelligence, also shared the update with the crypto community on X (formerly Twitter). Seyffart’s X post included a screenshot of the asset manager’s filing and data regarding other applicants.

According to the post, Franklin Templeton is the eighth company in the cryptocurrency market to file for product approval. Previous asset managers to file applications for Ethereum ETFs include Hashdex, BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark and 21Shares, Grayscale, VanEck, Invesco, and Galaxy. 

Per the official filing, a Delaware statutory trust is how the Franklin Ethereum Trust is set up. The ETF aims to give investors access to ETH in a regulated manner by allowing them to store it directly through a custodian.

It states in the company’s S-1 filing that the proposed “Franklin Ethereum Trust” will hold ETH and “may, from time to time, stake a portion of the fund’s assets through one of the more trusted staking providers.”

Staking is the act of locking up digital currency to maintain the operations of a blockchain network. They plan to stake some of the ETF’s ETH holdings to supplement its income through staking rewards.

The Price Of ETH Rallies Amidst The Update

Franklin Templeton’s spot Ethereum ETF application was made in light of the price of ETH experiencing an uptick. However, no solid proof exists that the latest development impacted the price of crypto assets.

Related Reading: Ethereum ETFs Approval Date Set For May 23, Forecasts Suggest ETH Could Reach $4,000

Ethereum was trading at $2,661 as of press time, indicating an increase of over 7% in the past 24 hours. Data from CoinMarketCap shows that its market capitalization is also on the upside, marking an increase of over 7%. 

Meanwhile, its trading volume has increased significantly by over 172% in the past day. Due to the rise, ETH now ranks third in the entire crypto market by trading volume.

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Bitcoin ETF Makes Waves: Volumes Surge $10 Billion 3 Days

Bitcoin Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have once again garnered the attention of crypto enthusiasts and investors as the products have witnessed a whopping $10 billion in total trading volume in the first three days of trading.

Bitcoin Spot ETF Sees Significant Uptick In Day 3 Trading

The development was revealed by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). The information shared by the analyst demonstrates a firm desire for exposure to digital assets via regulated financial markets.

Seyffart’s X post delves in on the data from the “Bitcoin ETF Cointucky Derby.” According to the analyst, “ETFs traded almost $10 billion in total over the past 3 days.” 

The analyst also provided a virtual record of the data to further elaborate on the substantial trading volume. With a total volume of over $5 billion, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) stands out as the top performer among the notable financial firms.

BItcoin

Meanwhile, iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) come next in line. The data shows that the financial firms witnessed an overall trading volume of $1.997 billion and $1.479 billion, respectively. 

ARK’s 21Shares ETF (ARKB) and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BTTB) followed behind with a substantial total trading volume of $568 million and $258 million, respectively. This spike in trading volume indicates that both institutional and individual investors are growing more at ease utilizing traditional investment engines to trade BTC.

Although Grayscale’s Bitcoin fund continues to gain the highest overall trading volume, the fund has seen significant withdrawals from investors seeking to lower their exposure.

There have been withdrawals totaling more than $579 million since Grayscale started trading on January 11. Currently, Grayscale is still considered the “Liquidity King” of the Bitcoin spot ETFs.

However, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas anticipates that Blackrock might oversee Grayscale to claim the title. “IBIT keeping lead to be one most likely to overtake GBTC as Liquidity King,” he stated.

3-Day Trading Surpassed 500 ETFs In 2023

Following the report, Eric Balchunas has provided a context for the massive surge of these products. The analyst did so by comparing the trading volume of BTC ETFs to all the ETFs that were launched in 2023.

“Let me put into context how insane $10b in volume is in the first 3 days. There were 500 ETFs launched in 2023,” Balchunas stated. According to him, the 500 ETFs completed a $450 million combined volume today, and the best one did $45 million.

In addition, Balchunas highlighted that Blackrock‘s BTC ETF demonstrates a better performance than the 500 ETFs. “IBIT alone is seeing more activity than the entire ’23 Freshman Class,” he stated. It is noteworthy that half of the ETFs launched in 2023 recorded an overall trading volume of “less than $1 million” today.

Balchunas also stressed the difficulty in acquiring volume, noting that it is harder than flows and assets. This is because the volume has to come genuinely in the marketplace, which gives an “ETF lasting power.”

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Bloomberg: Ethereum Price Levels May Fall Below $2,000

After the cryptocurrency market collapsed in January, some assets closed the month in the red. This includes Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, which went below 27% from December.

While Ethereum (ETH) has already seen positive returns in February, the potential of a price crash remains. The price of ETH might drop as low as $1,700, according to Bloomberg. Experts believe, however, that Ethereum’s bullish fundamentals will be preserved.

Ethereum May Follow Last Year’s Price Trend

Bloomberg has warned that it is pessimistic on Ethereum (ETH). Bloomberg experts anticipate that Ethereum might fall to as low as $1,700 in their latest Intelligence report. The drop, however, could be followed by an upward correction.

According to Bloomberg, Ethereum (ETH) could follow in the footsteps of last year’s June to September price movement, and fall below current levels to reach the aforementioned price. The report reads:

“Ethereum could repeat last summer and revisit about $1,700. Once the weaker leveraged long positions were purged, the resolution was a new high around $4,800 in November. Ethereum approaching the lower end of its range has greater risks for shorts than longs.”

Led by senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone, the analysts noted that the ETH market is in a consolidation phase near the end of a bull market. This is evidenced by the fact that the market has benefited both buyers and sellers by trading in the $2,000 to $4,000 price range.

A bear storm usually affects long positions more than short positions. However, Bloomberg notes that the impact of this bearish shift will be worse for Ethereum shorts than for bullish holdings in this situation.

Regardless, the analysts point out that Ethereum’s optimistic fundamentals remain intact, thus a price drop below $1,700 would be bullish for the cryptocurrency overall. It may even be essential, as it was last year, to cleanse “weaker leveraged long positions.”

According to Bloomberg, the second most valuable cryptocurrency has a strong long-term outlook. It compares Ethereum’s fundamentals to those of Bitcoin, which is predicted to break through $100,000 in the near future due to dwindling supply and rising demand. The report added:

“Ethereum’s fundamentals are similar, with straightforward technical guidance and buyers prevailing at about $2,000 and sellers around $4,000.” .

Ethereum and Bitcoin are projected to continue rising unless “something stops the spread of the nascent technology.” This is due to the fact that both cryptocurrencies are still considered to be in their early phases of acceptance.

Related article | Ethereum Beats Out Walmart, Mastercard To Be 25th Largest Asset In The World

Ethereum Price Turn Green

Currently, the price of Ethereum appears to be downplaying the issue. In the previous few days, the price of ETH has surpassed $3,000, a gain of roughly 19.7%. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at roughly $3,190, up 3.22% on the day.

Ethereum is trading in the green, along with several other altcoins, as the market recovers from last week’s losses. Ethereum has gained about 20% in the last seven days, making it the best performer among the top five Cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

ETH/USD 24-hours charts. Source: TradingView

Finder.com, a savings website, predicted a price of $7,609 for Ethereum later this year, but still expects it to decrease to $6,000 by the end of the year due to market competition.

Meanwhile, Vanessa Harris, Permission’s chief product officer, claims that the asset will lose a significant amount of value. By 2030, she expects Ether to be worth $100.

Her arguments are supported up by suspicions that Ethereum’s move from a Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake blockchain will not solve the problem of network congestion, which has resulted in high fee costs for network users in the past.

Ethereum is trading in the green, along with several other altcoins, as the market recovers from last week’s losses. Ethereum has gained about 20% in the last seven days, making it the greatest performer among the top five Cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

Related article | Vitalik Buterin On How To Eliminate Ethereum Network Congestion

Featured image from Deposit Photos, chart from TradingView.com

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BlockFi Filed For The Coveted Spot Bitcoin ETF With The SEC

Will BlockFi be the one? The rumors are flying, apparently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will approve a spot Bitcoin ETF soon. With that in mind, the news that crypto lending platform and investment service BlockFi just filed to get one approved was met with suspicion and excitement by the Bitcoin community. Unlike the Bitcoin Futures ETF, a spot one will require the company sponsoring it to buy a huge amount of Bitcoin. This will definitely affect the price. However… BlockFi?

Related Reading | Bitcoin Futures ETF Exceeds Expectations, Trades $1 Billion On Day One

Last year, hackers targeted BlockFi and stole sensitive user data including their clients’ activity history. To add insult to injury, the hackers used a simple SIM swap to breach their security, and the company didn’t disclose the hack until days after it happened. More recently, regulators from five states accused the controversial lending platform of violating security laws with their BlockFi Interest Account product. In a statement regarding the issue, the company said:

“BlockFi’s BIAs have been the subject of recent activity by securities regulators in New Jersey, Texas, Alabama, Vermont and Kentucky, and we are in active dialogue with these regulators. We believe that our products and services are lawful and appropriate for crypto market participants, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to protect consumers’ rights to earn interest on their crypto assets.”

In any case, past performance doesn’t guarantee future results. And BlockFi could score big if they’re the chosen one. The first spot Bitcoin ETF is expected to shatter all kinds of records, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

BTC price chart for 11/09/2021 on Oanda | Source: BTC/USD on TradingView.com
What Do We Know About BlockFi’s Version Of A Bitcoin ETF?

Not much, actually. The project is a joint venture with investment management firm Neuberger Berman. If approved, it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange. It will “reflect the performance of bitcoins held by the Trust, less the Trust’s expenses and other liabilities.” Yes, the registration statement actually says “bitcoins,” but let’s give them a pass for now. What else does the document reveal? Well…

“Barring a liquidation or extraordinary circumstances, the Trust will not purchase or sell bitcoin directly, although the Trust may direct the Custodian to sell bitcoin to pay certain expenses. Instead, when the Trust sells or redeems its Shares, it will do so in “in-kind” transactions in blocks of [] Shares (a “Creation Basket”) based on the quantity of bitcoin attributable to each Share (…). Because the creation and redemption of Creation Baskets will be effected in in-kind transactions based on the quantity of bitcoin attributable to each Share, the quantity of bitcoin in Creation Baskets so created or redeemed will generally not be affected by fluctuations in the value of bitcoin.”

In any case, is not even close to guaranteed that  BlockFi will win the coveted first spot. The amount of ETF fillings regarding Bitcoin is getting ridiculous, actually.

Who’s Next On The SEC’s Bitcoin ETF List?

The list Bloomberg Intelligence’s James Seyffart provides shows 21 hopeful spot Bitcoin ETFs and even more derivatives-based ones. That includes the BlockFi Futures ETF that the company filed for last month. Here’s the list.

Here's the current list of #Bitcoin and Crypto ETF filings with the SEC. Next big date is still 11/14/21 for VanEck's spot Bitcoin ETF. It will be either approval or denial from SEC — no more delays. https://t.co/Z8phpVlsOK pic.twitter.com/g9ayoibmQN

— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) November 8, 2021

According to the expert, the “Next big date is still 11/14/21 for VanEck’s spot Bitcoin ETF. It will be either approval or denial from SEC — no more delays.” Will VanEck be the chosen one? We’ll have to wait and see, but Seyffart feels it won’t be. He tweeted, “We fully expect a denial based on recent comments from SEC/Gensler. Would be shocked if VanEck’s filing is approved (despite believing it *should* be approved). BUT, the denial letter should give us insight into SEC’s current views/opinions.”

Related Reading | Bitcoin ETF Inflows Slow Down As Altcoins Interest Rebound

Chances are all the approved spot Bitcoin ETFs will make tons of fiat money, but the first-mover advantage in a product as anticipated as this one is worth millions of Dollars. Billions, even.

Featured Image by Chris Stermitz from Pixabay – Charts by TradingView