BlackRock ETF close to overtaking Grayscale, despite second-lowest daily inflows

BlackRock’s IBIT ETF could soon flip Grayscale’s GBTC, to become the largest ETF by Bitcoin holdings.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), is slowly approaching the market share of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC).

BlackRock’s IBIT recorded the second-lowest daily inflows of $24.9 million on April 17, compared to its lowest day of $20.4 million worth of inflows on April 9, according to Dune data.

Despite the second-lowest daily inflows, IBIT’s current market share of 32.6% is quietly approaching Grayscale’s GBTC market share of 36.8%, which is the largest spot Bitcoin ETF, holding $19 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC).

BlackRock’s ETF is currently holding $16.8 billion worth of Bitcoin, which is $2.2 billion short of GBTC’s holdings.

IBIT flipping GBTC for the first place is not unfeasible, considering that GBTC’s Bitcoin holdings fell by 50% ahead of the Bitcoin halving — from 619,220 BTC on the first day of trading on Jan. 11, to the current 308,105 BTC.

Looking at accumulation patterns, BlackRock’s Bitcoin accumulation has slowed down since its record day on March 13, when IBIT saw $866 million worth of net inflows. However, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF holdings surged over 10,200%, from 2,621 BTC at launch, to the current 272,550.

Grayscale’s Bitcoin selling has also been slowing down since March 19, when GBTC saw $607 million worth of outflows, as its fourth-largest day of outflows since inception. In comparison, GBTC outflows stood at $79 million on April 17, according to Dune.

Cumulative ETF inflows have been slowing down since March. Last week saw over $199 million worth of net inflows into the ETFs, down from $2.58 billion in the week beginning March 11.

Bitcoin price has also been subdued due to the slowing ETF inflows. It fell 10.7% during the previous week to trade at $62,971 as of 12:30 pm UTC, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin slipped below $60,000 on April 17, days before the halving.

Related: Bitcoin supply to run out on exchanges in 9 months — Bybit

Grayscale’s GBTC has been experiencing a massive sell-off since it was launched for trading, introducing significant selling pressure for Bitcoin.

The massive outflows can be attributed to GBTC’s high trading fee of 1.5%, which is the highest among all U.S. Bitcoin ETF issuers. In comparison, Grayscale’s IBIT has a 0.25% trading fee, while Franklin Templeton’s ETF only charges a 0.19% fee.

Related: Top five BTC miners not selling despite Bitcoin halving