BlackRock 'gaga' over spot bitcoin fund that accounts for 24% of firm's total ETF flows: analyst

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas is convinced BlackRock is thrilled with the success of its spot bitcoin ETF, ticker IBIT, and backed up his assertion with some compelling data.

"I know they're gaga over this IBIT, I mean this ETF IBIT is 24% of all of their flows out of 1,000 ETFs globally," Balchunas said Wednesday during a online panel discussion about Hong Kong's recently approved spot crypto ETFs. "You know that's getting the attention of even Larry Fink."

Fink is CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. Balchunas, who analyzes ETFs for Bloomberg, has established himself as one of the most vocal commentators weighing in on the crypto-based spot bitcoin ETFs, which launched in the U.S. earlier this year.

After BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF began trading in January, it attracted inflows for more than 70 days , making it one of the most successful exchange-traded funds in history. The financial instrument, which allows investors to wager on the price of bitcoin without having to buy it themselves, currently has more than $18 billion in assets under management, according to the fund's info page .

 

The IBIT exchange-traded fund is second only to Grayscale's fund in terms of AUM. Grayscale's ETF, however, is a converted product that launched with tens of billions of dollars in AUM.

Overall, in terms of total trading volume, all the spot bitcoin ETFs currently trading have generated significant interest from investors. So far, the cumulative trading volume for all spot bitcoin ETFs is nearly $230 billion, according to The Block Data Dashboard .

After Grayscale and BlackRock, Fidelity's spot bitcoin ETF has been the most successful in terms of trading volume and AUM.