4 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs among top 20 launches of all time

As the crypto industry marks one year since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs, four U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds now rank among the top 20 ETF launches in history.

The SEC’s approval on January 10, 2024 paved the way for 11 spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs to go live on US exchanges. The launch coincided with Bitcoin reaching an all-time high in March 2024, surpassing the $100,000 mark before a correction was made.

While the market has seen tremendous growth since these ETFs began trading, what stands out a year later are the records they broke.

On January 10, 2025, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart shared a summary of spot BTC ETFs one year ahead.

One of the most surprising milestones, according to Seyffart, was the inclusion of four spot Bitcoin ETFs in the list of the top 20 ETF launches of all time.

The ETFs in question are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), Ark/21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), and Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB). It is noteworthy that BlackRock’s IBIT surpassed $50 billion in assets under management in less than a year. By comparison, it took the asset manager’s gold ETF nearly 20 years to surpass $30 billion in AUM.

“How big was the first year for Bitcoin ETFs? Huge,” Seyffart noted. “Even when you adjust holdings for inflation, 4 of the Bitcoin ETFs rank among the top 20 US ETF launches of all time. $IBIT, $FBTC, $ARKB, and $BITB.”

IBIT tops the list of the best ETF launches in history, while FBTC, ARKB, and BITB rank fourth, 16th, and 18th, respectively.

“One key takeaway for me here is that even relatively small issuers ARK/21 Shares and Bitwise, two ETFs with “only” about $4 billion each, still rank among the top 20 launches of all time. This is crazy,” the analyst added.

VanEck’s HODL is ranked 99th, CoinShares Valkyrie’s BRRR is ranked 162nd, Invesco Galaxy’s BTCO is ranked 196th, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC is ranked 199th, and WisdomTree’s BTCW is ranked 384th.

According to SoSoValue data, total net assets in US spot Bitcoin ETFs stand at over $106 billion as of January 9, 2025, accounting for approximately 5.74% of Bitcoin’s total market cap.