Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF sees $10 billion outflow amid competition
Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin ETF, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), has experienced over $10 billion in net outflows since its conversion to an ETF on January 11, with $375 million exiting on Thursday alone. Despite this, the total assets under management for GBTC have only slightly decreased from $28 billion to $27 billion, cushioned by Bitcoin’s recent price surge. In contrast, competitors like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) have seen significant inflows, with IBIT reaching $9.7 billion and FBTC hitting $6 billion in assets. The overall net inflow into U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs remains positive at nearly $9.4 billion, even with GBTC’s outflows.
Grayscale’s GBTC has been struggling to retain investor assets amidst a competitive market for Bitcoin ETFs, where fees play a significant role in attracting investments. GBTC’s 1.5% fee is notably higher than the 0.25% charged by both IBIT and FBTC. The high fee structure has contributed to GBTC’s outlier status within the 10-fund U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF segment, leading to consistent net outflows since its ETF conversion.
While GBTC has seen outflows every trading day since January 11, with a notable spike to nearly $600 million on February 29, the fund’s assets have not plummeted drastically due to Bitcoin’s price reaching an all-time high of just above $69,000 on Tuesday. The cryptocurrency’s price was approximately $67,400 early Friday morning, marking an over 8% increase from the previous week.
On the other hand, Fidelity’s FBTC recorded its largest single-day inflow of $473 million on March 7, according to BitMEX data, bringing its total net inflows to over $6 billion and expanding its Bitcoin holdings to roughly 120,000 BTC. BlackRock’s IBIT also continued to see strong inflows, with a recent addition of $244 million, pushing its total net inflow to $9.7 billion and Bitcoin holdings to about 191,000 BTC.
Mid-tier ETFs like Bitwise’s BITB and Ark’s ARKB have also experienced inflows, with ARKB’s total net inflows reaching $1.8 billion and BITB slightly behind at $1.3 billion. Despite GBTC’s outflows, the combined net inflow into Bitcoin ETFs stands at a robust $9.4 billion, equivalent to 174,881 BTC. Industry speculation suggests that the uptick in GBTC outflows could be partly driven by the bankrupt lender Genesis, which was granted approval to offload approximately $1.6 billion worth of GBTC shares. However, a Genesis spokesperson did not comment on the matter.