The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin spot ETF (IBIT) is the first to reach $2 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM). Currently, the fund holds nearly 50,000 BTC.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF: IBIT is the first to reach the $2 billion AUM threshold
The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has also reached new records with its recently launched bitcoin spot product.
According to what is reported, it seems that on Friday, January 26, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF iShares (IBIT) became the first to reach $2 billion in assets under management (AUM).
Excluded from this ranking of the new ETFs approved on January 10th of this year is Grayscale’s GBTC, which already had nearly $30 billion in AUM at the time of its conversion from a closed-end fund to a spot ETF.
Anyway, now BlackRock IBIT fund holds almost 50,000 BTC. Specifically, on Thursday, January 25th, while investors added about $170 million to IBIT, the fund purchased another 4,300 bitcoins.
This addition has brought the fund to hold a total of 49,952 BTC. And so, with the BTC price back above $41,000 since Friday, IBIT’s AUM has risen to over 2 billion dollars.
Bitcoin ETF BlackRock: Will IBIT conquer the first place in the ranking?
The President of ETF Store, Nate Geraci, believes that IBIT could soon take the top spot in the rankings among all ETFs launched in the past year.
Currently, in fact, BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot ETF with its $2 billion AUM, ranks third in terms of asset collection, among all the over 600 launched ETFs.
Looking at the current situation, the next one to cross the $2 billion AUM threshold could be the Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) by Fidelity. Currently, it seems that the fund holds just under 44,000 BTC.
Returning to BlackRock, recently, the CEO of the asset management giant, Larry Fink, compared Bitcoin and gold as financial assets.
According to Fink, just like gold, Bitcoin is also an asset class that “protects” and therefore rises in price when there is widespread fear in the markets due to geopolitical risks.
On the other hand, however, while gold is continuously extracted, BTC has a fixed maximum supply. Therefore, for Fink, Bitcoin is not the digital version of gold, but a financial investment alternative.
BTC price resumes its climb
The last weekend is showing signs of recovery for the price of Bitcoin (BTC), which now seems to be positioned above the $41,000 threshold.
Halfway through this month, in fact, BTC had started its price decline, reaching a minimum of $38,800 on January 23, 2024.
However, since Friday, the trend has changed, with a price pump that has brought BTC above $41,000. At the time of writing, BTC is worth $42,254.
The analysts at JPMorgan Chase also predicted this bitcoin price recovery during the weekend.
And indeed, last Friday, analysts from the large US bank had stated that after the closing of profit-taking by Grayscale’s GBTC investors, outflows would return to stabilize and the price of BTC would rise.
