Grayscale's GBTC reaches its own halving, down 50% in bitcoin holdings since spot ETFs launch

Grayscale’s GBTC bitcoin holdings have halved in around three months since the U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds launched on Jan. 11.

In contrast to the newborn nine ETFs from BlackRock, Fidelity and others, Grayscale’s pre-existing Bitcoin Trust was converted into an ETF rather than launching from a standing start — holding around 619,220 BTC -5.078% when spot bitcoin trading began.

GBTC also charges a much higher fee than its competitors — 1.5% compared to the current 0.12% fee for BlackRock’s IBIT, for example — with its bitcoin holdings subsequently falling approximately 50% to around 311,621, according to the fund’s disclosures as of Monday.

However, given the concurrent rise in bitcoin’s price since the spot ETFs launched, GBTC’s assets under management in U.S. dollar terms have fallen less — down 31% from a value of $28.7 billion on Jan. 11 to $19.8 billion at current prices.

BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC spot ETFs have been the primary beneficiaries in terms of market share by bitcoin holdings. GBTC has fallen from effectively 100% of the market on launch day to just 37.3% as of yesterday, according to The Block’s data dashboard . IBIT has gained a 32.2% share in the period, with FBTC third on 17.8%.

 

The combined assets held by all the U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs are now at nearly 840,000 BTC — more than 4% of bitcoin’s total 21 million supply.

 

BlackRock and Grayscale flows are the last left standing amid 'hesitant' market

For two trading days in a row, BlackRock’s IBIT and Grayscale’s GBTC have been the only U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs to record any flows. IBIT registered inflows of $73.4 million on Monday, but that was overpowered by $110.1 million in outflows from GBTC, leading to a $36.7 million net outflow for the day. 

That follows $55.1 million in net outflows on Friday, with a total of $82.5 million leaving the funds after three out of five negative days last week. However, overall net inflows since the spot bitcoin ETFs launched amount to $12.5 billion.

 

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FBTC’s first zero flow day on Friday means its 63-day inflow streak has ended — the 16th longest streak in U.S. ETF history. IBIT is still going, with a current 65-day inflow streak , placing it at joint 14th.

“Investors are seemingly hesitant since the positive price momentum has stalled,” CoinShares Head of Research James Butterfill wrote yesterday.

Hong Kong approves first batch of spot bitcoin, ether ETFs

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission approved several spot bitcoin and ether ETFs on Monday, managed by firms including China Asset Management, Harvest Global, Bosera and HashKey.

OSL, a sub-custodian and infrastructure service provider for two fund managers, said earlier today that the spot bitcoin funds aim to launch as early as late April, provided that interactions with the regulator proceed smoothly.

However, though some expect substantial demand for the new products, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas quelled yesterday's excitement, suggesting the Hong Kong crypto ETFs will be “lucky” to attract $500 million in total AUM.

Fellow Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart agreed, adding: “There are more assets in U.S. listed bitcoin ETFs than there are assets in EVERY single ETF listed in Hong Kong. Yes it could be a big deal down the line. But it's a whole different animal.”

Bitcoin drops 10% amid geopolitical tensions with four days to go until the halving

Bitcoin is currently trading for $63,459, according to The Block’s price page . The largest cryptocurrency is down 4% over the past 24 hours and 10% over the past week amid geopolitical tensions but remains 50% up year-to-date.

Bitcoin’s halving event — when the miners’ block subsidy reward gets cut in half from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC — is now just four days away, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Halving Countdown page.

The estimated countdown is based on Bitcoin's average block generation time of 10 minutes, setting a potential date of April 20 at around 3:30 a.m. UTC (11:30 p.m. ET on April 19), as things stand.