By
Bhushan Akolkar
June 17th, 2024
The rally in Bitcoin price and spot Bitcoin ETF inflows comes as the US SEC decision date for spot Ethereum ETFs inch closer.
With Bitcoin hovering around $70,000, spot BTC ETFs in the United States have seen renewed hope with their inflows reaching new levels. On Tuesday, BlackRock Inc (NYSE: BLK) iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw a significant inflow of over $290 million. This marked the biggest daily inflow the top investment management firm has registered for the product since April.
Spot Bitcoin ETF Market Sees Revival
Before this new development, the Bitcoin ETF had a monthly high of $93 million which it registered on May 16. Tuesday’s inflow from BlackRock IBIT is considered as unusually large as it is now three times higher than this month’s average high. In April, the outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs were so massive that BlackRock broke its 71-day streak of positive inflows. Markedly, April 24 marked the first-day IBIT experienced zero inflows in a surprising reversal for the high-performant ETF.
Judging by this precedence, this current development is a significant pivot for BlackRock from the bearish April days. The sullen market outlook at the time led to some bearish sentiment for Bitcoin, causing its price to strain to maintain its support at $60,000. However, the Bitcoin market now shows signs of an impending recovery with the coin currently trading at $70,027, up 2.3% at the time of writing.
According to its product page, IBIT’s total holdings have ramped up to more than $19 billion as of May 20, 2024. This suggests that BlackRock was able to add about $4 billion to its Assets Under Management (AUM) in the space of one month.
The overall ETFs saw almost $300 million in net inflows on Tuesday with Fidelity’s FBTC bagging $25.8 million in corporate capital. Grayscale’s GBTC, which has seen more outflows than any other spot Bitcoin ETF, showed a five-day streak of inflows.
Build up of Expectations for Spot ETH ETF Approval
Noteworthy, the rally in Bitcoin price and spot Bitcoin ETF inflows comes as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision date for spot Ethereum ETFs inch closer. After having the decision on its spot Ethereum ETF application delayed by the Commission, VanEck is expecting a response from the SEC by May 23 while ARK Invest follows on May 24.
Before now, many market observers do not see the possibility of these ETF issuers obtaining approval from the securities regulator. Dogecoin founder Billy Markus said that SEC has lost its integrity, and any positive outcomes are unlikely until its integrity is restored. Roshan Shah, the Co-founder and CEO of Decimal Digital Currency, also believes that the regulators are not yet ready to approve Ethereum ETFs.
However, the trends changed earlier this week as Bloomberg Analysts raised their odds of approval from 25% to 75%. There is now more direct communication between the SEC and applicants with 19b-4 updates ongoing. In all, the market waits to see whether the approval will be granted and the likely timeline for trading to commence.