Bitcoin has new buyers in the form of some of Wall Street’s biggest players, and they’re gathering some enormous treasuries. Bitcoin ETFs in the US are now sitting on almost 4% of all bitcoin in existence. Spot funds overall held 776,464 BTC ($47.7 billion) on Friday morning, per BitMEX Research.
There’s currently 19.64 million BTC ($1.21 trillion) in circulation, with an eventual limit of 21 million to be reached over the next century or so. Led by Blackrock’s Spot BitcoinETF (IBIT) & Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the set of 10 physically-backed funds launched on Jan. 11 now boast some of the largest stashes in the space. GBTC alone held almost 3.2% of all bitcoin on the market just before the ETFs opened trade for the first time, and has been bleeding coins ever since. Its share of bitcoin supply is now 2.2%. GBTC shareholders previously could not redeem their shares for bitcoin, but all that changed once it converted to an ETF.
The fund’s high fees compared to its new competitors, however, has contributed to capital flight. The other ETFs have attracted enough fresh capital to make up the difference and then some. MicroStrategy, the largest corporate treasury in the world, has so far acquired 0.98% of the supply (193,000 BTC worth $11.88 billion).
