BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF reaches 500,000 BTC milestone

The Bitcoin Spot ETF from iShares continues to break records. Will BlackRock soon be managing more BTC than Satoshi Nakamoto himself?

BlackRock's Bitcoin Spot ETF, IBIT, has crossed the 500,000 BTC mark, according to data from K33 Research. This equates to a value of about $48 billion.

Explosive growth of IBIT

The impressive growth of IBIT, the product of the world's largest asset manager, continues. The ETF now manages 2.38 percent of the total Bitcoin offering. Moreover, the ETF launched in January is among the strongest products in the sector in terms of inflows.

"Remarkably, the products are well positioned for further growth. At the end of Q3 2024, 24 percent of IBIT was owned by institutional investors," said Vetle Lunde, analyst at K33, in a statement to The Block. According to Lunde, this could quickly make Bitcoin a standard means of diversification in traditional portfolios.

Still, the analyst expects inflows to decline by 2025, given Bitcoin's "comet-like rise" this year.

First outflow in months

According to a recent report from CoinShares Bitcoin products last week experienced their first significant outflow since early September. The total amounted to a drop of $457 million. James Butterfill, chief analyst at CoinShares, explains this as "Profit-taking after testing the psychologically important $100,000 level in Bitcoin."

In addition, Butterfill notes that the volume of exchange-traded products (ETPs) has not increased significantly since the introduction of options on U.S. ETFs. Weekly volume was $22 billion, compared with $34 billion a week earlier.

New records

Despite this outflow, Bitcoin ETFs are still breaking records. According to the CEO of CryptoQuant, all Bitcoin-Spot-ETFs combined now have more Bitcoin under management than the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.