9 Bitcoin ETFs Purchase 100K BTC Within 7 Days of Launch: A Game-Changing Move in the Crypto Market

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Purchase Over 100,000 BTC Following Successful Launch

Following the successful launch of Grayscale’s Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), which saw a dump of over 80,000 BTC in just a few days, nine other spot BTC ETFs have accumulated more than 100,000 BTC.

Among these are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), which combined have purchased 102,613 BTC in the first seven days of trading, according to data from Cointelegraph. This amount is currently valued at approximately $4.1 billion, according to CoinGecko.

This impressive amount of BTC acquired by spot Bitcoin ETFs in just one week makes up over half of the total BTC holdings of MicroStrategy, a major BTC investor. As of December 26, 2023, MicroStrategy held a total of 189,150 BTC, with their most recent acquisition report showing 105,085 BTC as of June 2021.

To put this into perspective, it took MicroStrategy roughly 300 days to cross the 100,000 BTC mark after starting to buy BTC in August 2020. This highlights the significant impact of spot Bitcoin ETFs in accumulating BTC in a short period of time.

BlackRock and Fidelity Dominate Spot BTC ETF Buying, Grayscale Sells Big

Recent data shows that BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC have emerged as the top buyers of Bitcoin among spot BTC ETFs, acquiring 37,304 BTC and 29,232 BTC, respectively. Following closely are the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), purchasing 16,451 BTC and 10,630 BTC, respectively.

However, unlike other Bitcoin ETFs, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC) – with the largest BTC holdings – has been actively selling BTC since its launch, offloading a whopping 82,526 BTC. This amounts to approximately $3 billion at current market value.

The massive selling of GBTC shares has resulted in a significant drop in Bitcoin’s price, plummeting by almost 20% from above $48,000 on January 11 to a low of $38,700 on January 23, according to CoinGecko data. As of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $39,926, showing a 1.8% increase in the past 24 hours.

Some experts believe that the selling of GBTC shares may be linked to the collapse of FTX crypto exchange’s estate, which dumped $902 million worth of GBTC shares.

Several analysts also suggested that the high trading fees of GBTC may have caused the recent outflows. As previously mentioned, GBTC charges up to 1.5% in fees, while other ETF providers charge between 0.2% and 0.4% and may even offer temporary waivers.

Some of the popular cryptocurrencies that have been gaining attention lately include VVS Crypto, Unbiased Crypto, and Starlink Crypto. Other notable names in the industry include VGX Crypto, UNFI Crypto, and The Hideaways Crypto. Investors are also keeping an eye on WLUNA Crypto, Voyager Crypto Update, WAX Crypto, and XCN Crypto.