This is how much Bitcoin the ETF issuers own

The recent bull run at Bitcoin can be explained mainly by the performance of spot ETFs. The ETF's need to buy BTC on the market, after all, in order to properly track the price of digital gold. This, in turn, has created constant buying pressure in the BTC market since the launch of the financial products about a month ago.

Taking all Bitcoin Spot ETFs together, at the time of writing the issuers own 728,000 BTC worth USD 37 billion. This means that BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale and Co. hold about 3.7 percent of circulating Bitcoin stock.

It should be noted that a significant portion of the 19.6 million BTC currently in circulation is considered lost. However, exactly how many coins have been lost can only be estimated. Timothy Peterson, asset manager at Cane Island Alternative Advisors, estimates that six million BTC have been lost forever.

ETF issuers, however, make no attempt to curb their buying habits. On the contrary. On Feb. 13, for example, BlackRock and Co. pulled as much as 12,800 BTC from the market. This corresponds to more than 10 times the amount of Bitcoin mined daily. This is evidenced by data from Apollo. An average of 900 BTC comes in daily.

It is therefore understandable that Bitcoin is performing bullish in contrast to the traditional stock market and even in contrast to its physical counterpart gold. Bitcoin is up 16 percent this week. The No. 1 cryptocurrency is currently trading at $51,856.

Meanwhile, the accumulation of spot ETFs is accelerating, as shown in the following chart.

This is how much BTC the largest ETF issuers own:

• Grayscale: 461,983 BTC

• BlackRock: 105,280 BTC

• Fidelity: 79,752 BTC

• Ark/21 Shares: 22,965 BTC

• Bitwise: 18,887 BTC