Fink said BlackRock's Bitcoin product "is the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs"
The approval of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission has caused a storm in the ETF industry. And now, according to Farside, the total net inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed $12 billion. On an average basis, there have been $258 million worth of inflows to BlackRock $BLK’s IBIT, followed by $140 million to Fidelity’s FBTC and $29.9 million to Bitwise’s BITB.
This new type of security has grown four-fold thanks to mainstream financial institutions’ support. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who recently discussed rethinking the U.S. retirement age, is optimistic about Bitcoin ETFs’ future. In an interview with Fox Business, he discussed BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, or IBIT.
“IBIT is the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs,” he said. “Nothing has gained assets as fast as IBIT in the history of ETFs.”
Fink seems optimistic about Ether ETFs, too. He recently said an ETH ETF is possible even if the SEC treats Ether like a security. Last week, the financial watchdog sent subpoenas to three companies as part of its probe of the Ethereum Foundation, the ecosystem that works behind the Ethereum blockchain network.
Earlier this week, Hashdex Bitcoin ETF, one of 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs approved by the SEC, was launched. Crypto asset management’s Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF is trading on the NYSE Arca exchange. Hashdex Bitcoin Futures ETF currently holds 5,500 Bitcoin worth $377.2 million. In comparison, BlackRock’s IBIT holds 244560 Bitcoin, worth $17.1 billion.
The emergence of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the country has been a boon for the crypto market, which had experienced a major crisis over the previous few years. But now Bitcoin has hit record highs. And the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, which will occur in mid-April, is expected to boost the crypto market even further. This event will reduce the reward for mining new Bitcoin by half.
Previous halving events have sent Bitcoin prices higher. Bitcoin’s most recent halving took place on May 11, 2020, resulting in a block reward of 6.25 Bitcoin. This year’s halving will reduce the reward to 3.125 Bitcoin for miners.
According to CoinMarketCap, in the past week, Bitcoin has risen 9% to $69,000, Ether has jumped 4.7% to $3,500, and Dogecoin has soared 40% to $0.21.
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