BlackRock CEO ‘Too Bullish’ As Bitcoin ETF Drops $17 Billion
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has reiterated that he is “very impressed” with the performance of the company's BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) and is “very bullish” on Bitcoin's long-term viability.
“IBIT is the fastest growing ETF in ETF history. “Nothing in the history of ETFs has gained assets as quickly as IBIT,” said Larry Fink in a March 27 interview with Fox Business.
Fink even said he was “surprised” by how well the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) performed in its first 11 trading weeks.
IBIT is off to a strong trading start with inflows of $13.5 billion in its first 11 weeks, with a daily high of $849 million as of March 12, according to Farside Investors. IBIT averages a little over $260 million in revenue per trading day.
“Now we're creating a more liquid, more transparent market and I'm very surprised. I couldn't have predicted before we offered that we would see this kind of retail demand,” Fink said.
Asked if IBIT “does well, but not this well,” Fink replied, “Yeah, definitely.”
“I'm very bullish on Bitcoin's long-term viability,” the BlackRock CEO added.
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says $IBIT spot #Bitcoin #ETF is fastest growing ETF in history pic.twitter.com/NOsDlFgROi
— Simon Dixon (@SimonDixonTwitt) March 27, 2024
IBIT currently holds $17.1 billion in Bitcoin, according to BitMEX Research, and it took just two months to reach the $10 billion mark — a milestone that took the first gold ETF two years to reach.
Of all the ETFs currently accepted, IBIT trails only the Greyscale Bitcoin Trust in Bitcoin holdings – with $23.6 billion in BTC. Greyscale's Bitcoin holdings continued to slide, however, holding off 620,000 BTC before switching to a spot Bitcoin ETF.
The nine-spot bitcoin ETF issuers (excluding Greyscale) now hold more than $34.1 billion in bitcoin, led by IBIT, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB).
Related: Bitcoin currently ‘in the midst of a bull run' – Gray report
Meanwhile, some industry analysts predict that some Bitcoin ETF issuers may eventually close for lack of profits.
Hector McNeil, founder of white-label ETF provider Hannetf said: “Most ETFs that have just started will never break even because expenses only work if the billions in assets under management reach them, but they don't. , recently told Cointelegraph.
Many ETF issuers have lowered fees to try to compete with some of the bigger players.
But these smaller issuers “face an uphill battle to get into this massive turf war,” said Bloomberg EFA analyst Henry Jim.
“If you keep up with payments, you won't have enough income to live on, and if you don't reduce payments, you won't be able to accumulate the mass assets necessary to survive.”
Asset management firm Hashdex approved its Bitcoin ETF on March 27, making it the 11th and latest Bitcoin ETF market competitor in the United States.
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