The fastest in history! IBIT surpasses 10 billion in market value in just seven weeks, BlackRock bets on spot Bitcoin ETF, while Vanguard still resists.

The Bitcoin frenzy continues to heat up, with a surge of 50% in the past month. Bitcoin spot ETFs are crazily attracting funds, giving birth to a billion-dollar ETF!

On Monday, Bitcoin surged over 5% intraday, breaking through $65,000, hitting a new high since November 2021, approaching the historical peak by less than $4,000, with a surge of about 50% in the past week.

As Bitcoin prices skyrocketed in the past week, spot Bitcoin ETFs saw record fund inflows, with BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF - IBIT reaching a milestone of $10 billion last Friday.

This pace surpasses SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), which took over two years to reach $10 billion in assets after its launch in 2004. Among the 3,400 ETFs in the United States, only about 150 have assets under management exceeding $10 billion, with the vast majority launched over 10 years ago.

Following IBIT, the largest spot Bitcoin ETF in terms of assets under management is Fidelity's Wise Origin (FBTC), with around $6.5 billion in assets, followed by ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) with $2.1 billion and Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) with $1.5 billion in assets.

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF reaches $10 billion in just seven weeks

It is worth mentioning that IBIT reached $10 billion in assets under management in just seven weeks.

Last Thursday, IBIT saw inflows of $604 million, following a record $612 million inflow the day before, marking the second-largest daily net inflow since the fund's launch on January 11. In terms of asset flow, IBIT is currently the third-largest ETF in the United States, behind only Vanguard and BlackRock's S&P 500 ETFs VOO and IVV.

BlackRock's IBIT fund has now reached a management scale of over 162,000 bitcoins (worth $10 billion), while Fidelity's FBTC fund assets have exceeded 105,000 bitcoins (worth $6.3 billion).

BlackRock owns a total of 408 iShares brand ETFs with assets totaling $2.7 trillion. About ten years after the Winklevoss twins first applied for a Bitcoin ETF in 2013, BlackRock applied to launch a cryptocurrency ETF in June 2023. Analysts point out that the application of the BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF marks a turning point in the decade-long regulatory dispute between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and ETF issuers, as ETF issuers rush to launch the first spot Bitcoin fund on the market.

Since 2021, the SEC has allowed funds to participate in Bitcoin futures trading, but the agency has rejected ETF applications based on the spot price of Bitcoin.

The watershed approval occurred on January 10th, with a total of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, including BlackRock, Ark Invest, Fidelity, and Invesco, being approved in a "milestone" moment. Read more

Vanguard CEO unexpectedly announced resignation last week, firmly rejecting Bitcoin ETF

However, one name was notably absent from the Bitcoin ETF "party": Vanguard, the world's second-largest asset management company.

A previous article pointed out that due to a mismatch in investment philosophy, Vanguard Group stated that it will not create or offer Bitcoin ETFs, nor will it provide other issuers' related ETFs on its trading platform. This decision stems from Vanguard's broader risk aversion philosophy and desire to protect middle-class investors.

Nevertheless, Vanguard unexpectedly announced last Thursday that Tim Buckley, the CEO who has worked at the company for 33 years, will step down at the end of this year.

Reports indicate that this was Buckley's personal decision, but this has not stopped some from speculating about other reasons. Some analysts suggest that Buckley's departure is due to him causing Vanguard Funds to miss out on the spot Bitcoin ETF "feast".

This raises a question: Will the next CEO of Vanguard reconsider issuing a spot Bitcoin ETF?