The launch of Grayscale Bitcoin mini ETF two days ago has severely dented flows for FBTC, BITB, and ARKB Bitcoin ETFs which have seen zero inflows in the last four trading sessions.
On Thursday, August 1, the spot Bitcoin ETFs registered $50 million in outflows. However, leading the show this time was not Blackrock’s IBIT but Grayscale’s newly launched Bitcoin mini ETF (BTC).
Yesterday, Grayscale’s BTC attracted a staggering $191 million in inflows on the second day of launch, thereby outpacing IBIT’s $26 million inflows by a huge margin. The newly launched Grayscale BTC mini ETF is an attractive option over the flagship GBTC product since it has only 15 bps in fees.
On the other hand, the pricier GBTC has 10x the management fee at 150 bps. As a result, GBTC experienced $71.3 million in outflows on Thursday, as per the data from Farside Investors, with cumulative net outflows spiraling above $19 billion since the January launch.
Among the top Bitcoin ETF issuers, three recorded net outflows yesterday. Fidelity’s FBTC saw a $48.4 million outflow, Bitwise’s BITB experienced a $20.7 million outflow, and ARK’s ARKB had a $22.4 million outflow.
Interestingly, these three players have seen zero inflows this week potentially due to the launch of Grayscale BTC mini ETF that raises the competition bar. However, BlackRock’s IBIT continues to attract inflows surging past more than $20 billion since the January launch.
Moreover, despite the launch of the Ethereum ETFs last week, the Bitcoin ETFs have managed inflows although at a reduced pace than what we saw during mid-July.
Farside data indicates that Ethereum ETFs experienced inflows on August 1, with a net inflow of $26.7 million. BlackRock’s IBIT led the inflows with $89.6 million, while Grayscale’s ETHE continued to face challenges, experiencing outflows of $78.0 million. Overall, Ethereum ETFs have now recorded a total outflow of $456.9 million
Bitcoin Performance in August
In July last month, Bitcoin (BTC) clocked over 15% returns amid stimulus coming from the launch of spot Ethereum ETF. Investors are putting a close watch on the macro developments with expected rate cuts in September.
However, until there’s enough confirmation, analysts believe the Bitcoin trading activity to remain dull throughout this month of August. As a result, we might not see any major inflows coming into Bitcoin ETFs as well this month.
If the Fed decides to pivot with a 25 bps expected rate cut next month, it will open the liquidity doors allowing more capital to flow into the crypto market.
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