Record for Bitcoin ETFs: surpassing gold capital inflows

Bitcoin is showing incredible strength in the market of new US spot ETFs, with capital inflows of $2.2 billion in the last 4 days that surpass those recorded by gold ETFs.

The cryptocurrency rally, which a few days ago vehemently surpassed the $52,000 threshold, is accompanied by record volumes in BlackRock, Fidelity, ARK, and Bitwise products, and at the same time by a decrease in investor interest in gold bars.

Many analysts predict an imminent drop in the price of gold in favor of its digital counterpart.

All the details below.

Record inflows in Bitcoin ETFs send the crypto asset soaring: +2.2 billion dollars in the last 4 days

Two days ago Bitcoin made a strong landing at the level of 52,000 USD, driven by the extremely positive data recorded by the new spot ETFs in the United States, which surpass those related to gold in the same time frame.

As Jared Blikre of Yahoo Finance points out, since the beginning of the year capital inflows into the so-called “exchange traded products” based on Bitcoin have indeed been higher than those recorded by traditional gold investment funds.

In particular, the two largest physical yellow metal ETFs, namely the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and the iShares Gold Trust (IAU), have shown net outflows of 2.6 billion and 507 million dollars respectively since January 1, 2024.

To underline how in the same period of last year, in a macroeconomic context totally different from the current one, the same products had recorded inflows of 241 million and 86 million dollars.

In total, out of the 14 gold ETFs monitored on ETF.com, 11 have recorded net outflows since the beginning of the year.

As stated by Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence: 

“The situation is quite bad right now in the gold ETF category”

On the Bitcoin front, since the ETFs were approved by the SEC on January 11th, we have witnessed net positive inflows on all the new major Fund Managers (excluding Grayscale, which already existed).

IBIT by BlackRock and FBTC by Fidelity alone have attracted an AUM of almost 10 billion dollars since their launch. If we include the outflows from GBTC, with Grayscale investors selling shares of the trust to take profits or move to less expensive products, Bitcoin spot ETFs as a group have recorded approximately 5 billion dollars in net inflows.

In the last 4 days of trading, approximately 43,300 BTC have entered in this category for a value of 2.3 billion dollars, a record amount that exceeds the data for the first three weeks of trading combined, in which only 42,000 BTC were collected.

iShares Bitcoin Trust by BlackRock, which leads the ranking of the largest Bitcoin ETFs after Grayscale, has reached an AUM of 5 billion dollars in just over a month since its launch.

Following, we find Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust by Fidelity, which closes the podium with an AUM of $4.2 billion, Ark 21Shares Bitcoin Trust by Cathie Wood with $1.2 billion, and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF by the homonymous company, which has recently officially entered the billionaire club thanks to its performances.

Nate Geraci, president of ETF Store, described Bitwise’s performance as “the most impressive,” adding that it is the only crypto-native investment fund among the top providers.

The battle of supremacy between Bitcoin and gold: experts predict the collapse of bullion

In the midst of the contrast between inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and outflows from gold ETFs, several finance experts suggest that the old safe haven par excellence could leave its throne in favor of the cryptographic counterpart.

It is not simply a matter of capital inflows, so much so that this condition could change over time.

Eric Balchunas, in fact, in pointing out the presence of strong outflows in gold ETFs, reminds that this outgoing money does not necessarily represent a migration towards Bitcoin-based products, but rather reflects a broader trend driven by stock market FOMO.

What is most shocking is the evolution of the global financial markets, in which gold risks losing its traditional role as a hedge against inflation and as a parking spot for liquidity in conditions of turbulence and uncertainty.

In place of physical gold bars, Bitcoin, in its digital version, is attracting increasing interest from retail and institutional investors, both for its highly speculative nature and for its recent expansion in regulated US markets regulated.

In this regard, the well-known investor Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestseller “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, noted in a recent interview that gold could experience a potential price collapse below the $1200 threshold, while gold and silver soar.

While gold still represents the most capitalized asset in the world with a value of about 13.5 trillion dollars, Bitcoin is in tenth position with a market capitalization of just 1 trillion dollars, ahead of Warren Buffet’s company Berkshire Hathaway and behind the giant Meta Platforms.

Given the limited potential of gold, which has grown by about 650% since the 2000s, and considering the youth of Bitcoin, many argue that this bias favors the crypto asset in the choice of which “safe haven” asset to include in the portfolio.

Adam Back, co-founder and CEO of Blockstream, echoes this sentiment, suggesting that Bitcoin could surpass the decline of gold faster than previously predicted.

This type of storytelling emphasizes the dynamics in extreme evolution regarding traditional markets and the disruptive potential in reshaping the global financial landscape.

Meanwhile, maximalists like Michael Saylor remind boomers of the intrinsic characteristics of digital gold, which surpasses its physical counterpart in many aspects, now obsolete from several points of view.

Try to transport 100,000 USD in physical gold through an airport, and then try it with Bitcoin. You will immediately notice the advantages of the second compared to the first.