Spot Bitcoin ETF Inflows Cross $1 Billion This Week, BlackRock Buys IBIT

The US spot Bitcoin ETF market has been heating up very fast following the Fed rate cut announcements as institutions rush to get their share of BTC. On Friday, the BTC ETF inflows stood at a staggering $495 million in a single day, thereby taking its weekly inflows to more than $1 billion. The latest report also shows that BlackRock continues to increase the holdings of its own ETF IBIT.

Spot Bitcoin ETF In Demand

Following the Fed rate cuts, demand for the spot Bitcoin ETF has skyrocketed as inflows continue to rise every single day supported by high trading volumes. This shows amid the massive demand, the regulated ETF products have scooped up more than 17,009 BTCs this week alone. This clearly highlights strong institutional participation in BTC ETFs.

Ark Invest’s ARKB continues to lead the pack for the second consecutive day with more than $203 million in inflows on Friday. Fidelity’s FBTC stood second with $123 million in inflows, while BlackRock’s IBIT stood third at $111.7 million in inflows per the data from Farside Investors. These three players alone took away 6,661 Bitcoins from the open market on Friday.

In comparison to the daily BTC production of 450 Bitcoins, the Bitcoin ETF demand is very high. Along with the 17,000 Bitcoins scooped by exchange-traded funds, MicroStrategy alone took away 7,000 Bitcoins this week.

This explains why the Bitcoin price has been making strong moves gaining has been making strong moves adding 5% over the past week. As of press time, the BTC price is trading 1.16% up at $66,071.29 with a market cap of $1.305 trillion. This surge comes as investors prepare beforehand ahead of the expected bull run in Q4 2024.

BlackRock Buys IBIT

The world’s largest asset manager BlackRock has been on a Bitcoin buying spree recently thereby offering a huge support to the asset class. It is certainly looking at Bitcoin as a long-term asset and a hedge to the rising inflationary pressure.

As per the latest SEC filing, the asset manager purchased more shares of its spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) for its global allocation fund. BlackRock is steadily increasing its Bitcoin holdings for its in-house funds. In a Friday portfolio filing for its Global Allocation Fund, the firm reported owning 198,874 shares of IBIT as of July 31, up significantly from the 43,000 shares it held in June.

With more than $21.3 billion in inflows so far in nine months of launch, the BlackRock BTC ETF dominates the market.