The new registration of BTC ETF from the big institutional players and wide influx of money, has reignited the excitement of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) among investors.
Eric Balchunas, ETF Specialist saw a spike in inflows to the Bitcoin futures fund ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) on June 26. The fund received $65.3 million in weekly inflows, the most in a year, as its assets surpassed $1 billion.
One of the most well-known BTC-linked ETF in the United States among institutional investors is BITO. Balchunas stated BITO “pretty much has followed Bitcoin perfectly,” behind market prices by 1.05% a year and charges a 0.95% fee.
As reported by ProShares, the BITO fund has gained 59.6% since the year 2023 began. After BlackRock applied for a separate Bitcoin ETF on June 15, demand in Bitcoin futures has increased significantly across the entire market Bitcoin futures open interest (OI), per Deribit crypto options market, has increased significantly since last week.
As of June 25, it had increased by about 30% from the previous week to $319 million. OI is a measurement of all open futures positions that have not yet been settled.
The comeback of ETF trading and resulting rise in the price of bitcoin have also been beneficial for Grayscale, the largest crypto asset management in the world. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which has been trading for months at a significant discount to spot BTC prices, is trending upward as that gap closes.
As per Coinglass, the discount or “grayscale premium” is -31.2%. In December, it dropped as low as -49%.
Although it’s still unknown if the SEC is going to permit a spot Bitcoin ETF, the competition has already begun when BlackRock made its filing.
In just a few hours after WisdomTree revived their application for a related product, Invesco filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF for the third consecutive time with the SEC.
Nate Geraci, the president of ETF Store, tweeted on June 25 a list of ETF providers that he “would keep an eye on” because he thinks they may submit a new filing or resubmit an existing one for a spot Bitcoin ETF in accordance with previous filings.
Geraci mentioned Fidelity, First Trust, Global X, VanEck and what he referred to as the “dark horse,” Schwab.
