Bitcoin’s (BTC) remarkable week continues to go on as the world’s leading cryptocurrency has broken past the $60,000 level, moving another step closer to its all-time high from over two years ago.
On Wednesday, February 28th, BTC even reached within touching distance of $64,000. The bullish momentum of the apex cryptocurrency can be attributed to several key factors but market experts believe it is largely driven by the success of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US.
Bitcoin ETF Daily Volumes Break Yet Another Record As Demand Raises
The spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have broken their all-time daily volume by setting another record for the highest daily trading volume.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchnuas reported that nine of the newly launched spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily trading volume of $2.6 billion, breaking the previous record set at $2.4 billion.
The investment vehicles backed by Bitcoin have been enjoying a fantastic start to the week. According to data from BitMEX Research, on February 27, all the spot Bitcoin ETFs – except the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – amassed $577 million or 10,167.5 BTC in net inflow, which is the largest single-day flow since they debuted a little over a month ago.
The previous high for fund inflows was $520 million, set on Monday, February 26th.
The massive inflow was a result of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF attracting $520 million, helping push the price of BTC up to $60,000. IBIT also managed to record a new daily high for trading volume, surpassing $1.3 billion to place itself amongst the top 11 ETFs in the US by volume.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust has brought home total flows of over $6.5 billion since launch. Furthermore, thanks to the surge in BTC’s price during that period, the Wall Street giant’s holdings in the crypto asset have appreciated to over $8 billion.
Fidelity came in second, with its Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) ETF now holding an estimated $5.6 billion worth of BTC under management. Compared to BlackRock’s IBIT, the fund absorbed only $126 million in inflows on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, digital asset manager Grayscale’s GBTC suffered another outflow of $125 million. Even though the incumbent fund still holds a significant lead in terms of total assets under management (AUM) at $25 billion in BTC, BlackRock is slowly but surely gaining momentum as a result of its comparatively lower management fee, making it a much more attractive option to investors.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Is Number Two In The US For Inflows
Balchunas further highlighted that BlackRock’s impressive inflow figure has ranked it second-largest ETF for inflows in the United States, coming only behind the company’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) that seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of large-cap US equities.
The Bloomberg financial analyst also noted that IBIT has now climbed up to fourth position in the overall ETF markets. Individual trades for BlackRock’s Bitcoin-backed fund have surpassed those of both the SPY, which tracks the S&P 500 Index, and QQQ, which tracks the top 100 companies on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Both BlackRock and Fidelity’s spot Bitcoin ETFs had already broken records as the two most successful ETF launches in history based on flows after just 30 days of trading.
El Salvador’s National Treasury Bitcoin Holdings Now Valued At Over $60 Million
The apex crypto asset’s run-up to the $60,000 mark has resulted in the national Bitcoin holdings of El Salvador surpassing $60 million in valuation. This further strengthens the Central American nation’s commitment to Bitcoin, potentially inspiring other countries to consider holding the cryptocurrency in their reserves.
In September 2021, El Salvador became the first nation to accept Bitcoin as legal tender. The move came just two months before Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $69,000.
The price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed by over 25% since the start of the week. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $62,354 – up nearly 10% in the last 24 hours.
