investors pulled $330.8 million from BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), on Thursday, the largest one-day outflow the fund has faced since its launch.
IBIT has now seen outflows for three consecutive trading days, with withdrawals exceeding $390 million since December 30. according to SoSoValue data. In addition to IBIT, Graiscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the king of outflows, also bled $23.1 million.
Looks like a rough start
In contrast, the rest of the US Bitcoin ETF group reported positive flows. ETFs managed by Fidelity, ARK Invest/21Shares, Bitvise and VanEck collectively raised $106.5 million in net inflows, the data show.
While GBTC continued to face a pullback, its cheaper ETF counterpart reported a gain of $6.89 million at the market close.
Overall, all 12 US-listed spot Bitcoin funds ended their first trading day of 2025 with losses of $242 million, reversing the previous day’s positive performance.
Elsewhere, US spot Ether ETFs also started the new year with negative flows. These funds suffered a combined net outflow of $77.5 million on Thursday, according to SoSoValue data.
The outflow was split between BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ( ETHE ) and Bitwise’s Ethereum ETF ( ETHV ), which posted losses of $21.4 million and $56.1 million, respectively.
IBIT continues to dominate the Bitcoin ETF market
Although IBIT’s growth has stalled in recent weeks, the fund is still a major player in the ETF market, and clearly, a dominant force in the Bitcoin ETF sector.
IBIT burst onto the scene less than a year ago, and runaway success soon followed. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas and James Seiffart called it the most successful ETF launch in history. Seiffart estimates the fund’s rapid growth could generate $112 million in annual revenue based on its 0.25% management fees.
IBIT also secured the No. 3 spot on Bloomberg’s list of the top 20 ETFs for 2024 after generating $37 billion in year-to-date flows, behind only the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF ( VOO ) and the iShares CORE S&P 500 ETF ( IVV ).
And it looks like BlackRock will continue to double down on Bitcoin and Ethereum, instead of shifting its interest to other cryptocurrencies. Robert Michnik, head of digital assets at BlackRock, previously emphasized that their clients show little interest in cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin and Ethereum.
By 2025, IBIT has raised over 551,000 BTC. This gives BlackRock control of more than 2.62% of all Bitcoins that will ever exist.
The crypto ETF market is poised for a major expansion in 2025
Nate Geraci, president of the ETF Store, predicts that the crypto ETF market will experience a major expansion as 2025 begins.
The expert outlined five key predictions for crypto ETFs this year, including the debut of combined spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. This type of fund would provide investors with a convenient single investment vehicle for exposure to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Geraci also expects fund managers to sign up to offer options trading on spot Ethereum ETFs. In 2024, a number of exchanges applied to the SEC to start options trading on spot Bitcoin ETFs, which was approved by the SEC.
Implementing in-kind creation and redemption mechanisms for spot BTC and ETH ETFs is also on the experts’ list. This process allows authorized participants to exchange baskets of underlying cryptocurrencies directly for ETF shares.
Geraci sees potential for investing in Ethereum ETFs in the future. This feature would allow investors to passively earn rewards for investing through their ETFs.
The investment was previously included in Ethereum ETF filings, but was removed due to the SEC’s position that the investment could be considered a security. However, with the upcoming changes in SEC leadership and the incoming Trump administration, there is widespread expectation that the SEC will eventually greenlight Ether ETFs with stake.
Geraci suggests that the SEC will approve spot Solane ETFs at some point this year. Apart from Solana, fund managers have applied for ETFs that give exposure to large assets such as Ripple (KSRP), Hedera (HBAR) or Litecoin (LTC).
