BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust is now the world's largest fund for the world's largest cryptocurrency, amassing nearly $20 billion in total assets since its U.S. listing in January, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
The exchange-traded fund (ETF) held $19.68 billion in bitcoin as of Tuesday, surpassing the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which held $19.65 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Market analysts have closely monitored the fund flows into BlackRock's ETF and out of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust since U.S. regulators approved nine new ETFs and converted Grayscale's publicly traded trust into an exchange-traded product on January 10.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), under the leadership of crypto skeptic Gary Gensler, had rejected spot bitcoin ETFs for over a decade due to concerns about market manipulation. However, the SEC approved these ETFs in January after Grayscale Investments won a court challenge last year.
CFRA's Ullal observed that BlackRock has benefitted from its robust distribution network among independent financial advisors and wealth managers.
“We’re seeing significant assets moving into the ETF from the wealth community as well as from individual advisors,” Jay Jacobs, U.S. head of thematic and active ETFs at BlackRock, told Reuters on Tuesday.
