BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Tops with $3.5B Inflows, Outshining S&P 500 ETFs

Key Points

• BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) leads the inflow into spot Bitcoin ETFs, competing with S&P 500 ETFs.
• All 11 original spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded inflows last week, indicating strong institutional demand for Bitcoin.

Investments into spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen a significant increase, with BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) leading the charge. BlackRock’s IBIT is also giving the S&P 500 ETFs a run for their money, with its weekly inflows rising to $3.5 billion. This represents 10% of the total net ETF flows over the same period.

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Takes the Lead

Due to a substantial surge in net inflows over the past week, BlackRock’s IBIT has topped the charts in terms of net inflows. It even outperformed top S&P 500 ETFs like SPLG and VOO by a considerable margin, as noted by Bloomberg strategist Eric Balchunas.

A change in trend was also observed by Balchunas, with all 11 original spot Bitcoin ETFs also seeing inflows last week, including GBTC. This trend underscores a strong institutional demand for Bitcoin.

On October 7, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded a net inflow of 7,401 BTC, valued at approximately $899.47 million. This marks the fourth-highest single-day inflow in the ETF’s history. Moreover, IBIT’s daily trading volume has surged to $5.7 billion.

According to the official iShares data, BlackRock’s IBIT holds close to 800,000 Bitcoin, with its net assets under management now nearing $100 billion. Eric Balchunas stated that IBIT is set to become the fastest ETF to reach this AUM milestone.

While the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) reached this milestone in 2,011 days, IBIT is on track to achieve this in just 435 trading days.

Potential Q4 Increase for Bitcoin ETFs

Market analysts note that spot Bitcoin ETFs closely follow the Bitcoin price trajectory, which reached all-time highs of $126,000 earlier this week. As experts predict a strong BTC upside in Q4, the inflows might follow suit.

Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan projected that US Bitcoin ETFs would surpass their $36 billion debut-year inflows in 2025. To date, the ETFs have accumulated approximately $22.5 billion, putting them on track for roughly $30 billion by year-end.

In 2024, the debut year, the BTC ETFs garnered $36 billion in total inflows. However, Hougan is confident that this year’s inflows will surpass last year’s figures.

“In the first four trading days of the quarter, we’ve already had $3.5 billion in net flows, bringing total YTD flows to $25.9 billion. We have 64 more days to get another $10 billion. I think we’ll do that and then some,” he added.