BlackRock’s $26b Bitcoin ETF crowned fastest growing fund

Wall Street’s demand for Bitcoin products increased last week with $1.1 billion in new cash raised by BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.

Bitcoin (BTC) has become the main focus of US asset management heavyweight BlackRock as its spot Bitcoin ETF outperforms many traditional finance offerings.

Investors injected $26 billion into BlackRock’s IBIT, 10 months after spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in mid-January. The fund ranks in the top 2% of all U.S. ETFs, and last week’s inflows marked another milestone for BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF.

BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for half of the $2.2 billion inflows recorded by U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs between October 14 and October 18. The $1.1 billion inflow moved IBIT to its third-highest inflow since the beginning of the year. It was also IBIT’s best week since March, confirming its status as the fastest-growing ETF on Wall Street and in financial history.

The success of US spot Bitcoin ETFs has attracted sustained media attention and sparked policy debate around Bitcoin as an asset. While similar debates have been around the Ethereum (ETH) spot, Ether ETFs have seen more modest milestones compared to their Bitcoin counterparts.

BlackRock’s IBIT alone dwarfed the $7.35 billion invested in the entire spot Ethereum ETF array. However, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan believes Ethereum ETFs will ultimately be successful.

Hougan noted that issuers may have introduced Ethereum ETFs to the market too early, but Ethereum’s expanding ecosystem and appeal to institutional investors through smart contract capabilities will likely attract more capital to ETH funds in the coming years.

Existing crypto funds have also encouraged new applications for digital asset ETFs. Bitwise has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its (XRP) ETF and BTC-Treasury ETF. Canary Capital, a firm founded by Valkyrie founder Steven McClurg, has also applied for spot Litecoin (LTC) funding.