Spot Bitcoin ETF Biggest Winners and Losers One Year On

Key Takeaways

• The first year of spot bitcoin ETF trading was a massive success, with the market experiencing $36.2 billion of net inflows.
• BlackRock's IBIT has been the clear leader of the market so far, breaking a number of ETF-related records along the way.
• The preexisting GBTC has seen more than $21 billion flow out of the fund.

In their very first year of trading, spot bitcoin (BTCUSD) exchange-traded funds have seen billions of dollar flow into them and have made it easier for investors to invest in the cryptocurrency. However, not all bitcoin ETFs are made the same and this past year has shown us that there has been a clear winner.

Since they began trading on Jan. 11, 2024, spot bitcoin ETFs have seen net inflows of roughly $36.2 billion, according to data from Farside Investors. While the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) saw net inflows worth nearly $38 billion during the period, outflows totaling more than $21 billion from Grayscales Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) dragged aggregate inflows down.

The market also saw heavy trading volume of more than $5 billion in a single day on multiple occasions, according to The Block.

iShares Bitcoin ETF Is a Record-Breaking Winner

The massive inflows into IBIT were nearly three times greater than those into its closest competitor.

The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) was the only other spot bitcoin ETF with more than $10 billion in inflows. In fact, the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) were the only other funds with inflows in the billions.

In terms of current size, IBIT's AUM sits at $52.9 billion as of Jan. 19, 2025, significantly higher than other similar products.

And not only did the ETF leave its competitors in the dust, it broke all sorts of records while doing so.

For example, IBIT reached the $50 billion of assets under management milestone in just 227 trading days, breaking the previous record of 1,323 days set by iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

Bitcoin is often called digital gold, but IBIT not only surpassed iShares' own gold ETF (IAU) in assets but is quickly gaining on the $75 billion in assets held by the world's largest gold ETF—the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD).

GBTC's Massive Outflows and ETFs That Did Little

Figuring out the biggest losers in the first year of spot bitcoin ETF trading is a bit more difficult, as there are arguments for and against GBTC.

On the one hand, the ETF experienced massive outflows of $1.6 billion in its first year of trading. On the other hand, it is still the second or third-largest spot bitcoin ETF on the market, depending on the day. Of course, it should be noted that some of GBTC's assets were also spun off into the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust ETF (BTC).

This mismatch between GBTC's inflows and AUM is caused by the fact that the fund existed prior to the approved listing of these financial products as ETFs.

Then there are those ETFs that barely moved the needle. Funds promoted by Franklin (EZBC), Invesco (BTCO), Valkyrie (BRRR), VanEck (HODL) and WisdomTree (BTCW) all experienced less than $1 billion of inflows during their first trading year.

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