Analysts claim to have discovered the addresses of companies issuing spot Bitcoin ETFs. Meanwhile, trading volumes in the new instrument reached $18.8 billion in seven days.
Analytics platform Arkham shared on X (formerly Twitter) the addresses of exchange-traded funds from BlackRock, Bitwise, Fidelity and Franklin Templeton. Each wallet stores less than a thousand bitcoins worth about $25 million.
Breaking: ETF addresses for Blackrock, Fidelity, Bitwise, and Franklin Templeton are now on Arkham.
Arkham has identified the on-chain location of four of the Bitcoin ETFs. We are the first to publicly identify these addresses.
Links and holdings breakdown below: pic.twitter.com/gFJAIklwtc
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) January 22, 2024
Issuers Don’t Lie
According to available data, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) currently owns 33,430 BTC worth about $1.3 billion. Such figures correspond to public information published on the issuer’s official website.
The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) currently holds 29,907 BTC, which is valued at approximately $1.2 billion. The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) has 10,1052 BTC, or $422 million. These amounts also correspond to published data. Now Arkham analysts have to determine the addresses of five more spot Bitcoin ETFs.
How is the BTC Spot ETF Market Doing?
As of January 22, the net outflow of funds from spot Bitcoin ETFs amounted to $77.3 million. At the same time, investors withdrew another $640 million from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) – the largest liquidation for the trust, writes Bloomberg analyst James Seyffarth.
The expert claims that the outflow is not slowing down, but increasing. To date, the total outflow from GBTC exceeds $3.4 billion.
At the same time, trading volumes continue to break records. Thus, in the week since the launch of the new instrument in the United States, the figure reached $18.8 billion.
Earlier, CoinShares analysts noted that the net inflow of funds into exchange-traded funds for Bitcoin in two weeks amounted to $1.25 billion. However, they emphasized that the approval of the instrument harmed funds that already existed in the US market. For comparison, only $21 million was poured into them last week.
Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenschein, meanwhile, believes that of the 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, only two or three funds will survive. In his opinion, many companies have little experience and do not have a “track record” with which they can attract more investors.
Grayscale Vs SEC’s Decision
GBTC is a trust of Grayscale Investments. It allows clients to invest in Bitcoin without purchasing and storing the cryptocurrency itself. On August 29, the court upheld the claim of Grayscale, challenging the regulator’s refusal to approve its application to launch a Bitcoin ETF. The company filed a lawsuit against the main US stock exchange regulator back in 2021. At the same time, Grayscale stated that the SEC has no reason to refuse to transfer the GBTC trust to a Bitcoin ETF.
If there were any difference between Bitcoin ETFs and futures products, it would have already been reflected in one of the regulatory decisions, the company believes.
