The iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT), owned by BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), has been trading since January 11. Nearly 40 days later, the ETF has surpassed MicroStrategy’s (NASDAQ: MSTR) Bitcoin (BTC) holdings.
As usual, BlackRock reported its spot Bitcoin ETF results on March 8 in the weekly closure shared by HODL15Capital. Remarkably, this week was the third-best week for IBIT, with 31,588 BTC added to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust holdings.
Weekly change in Bitcoin holdings | U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Source: HODL15Capital
Summing all nine weeks of Bitcoin ETFs’ activity, BlackRock’s financial product leads with 196,088 BTC added to its holdings.
Number of Bitcoin held by companies. Source: HODL15Capital
According to data from Bitcoin Treasuries, MicroStrategy acquired its 193,000 BTC at an average price of $31,554. Interestingly, these purchases cost Michael Saylor’s company $6.09 billion, now worth over $13 billion at Bitcoin’s all-time high.
Before the ETFs’ approval, investors considered MSTR a way to gain indirect exposure to Bitcoin in the stock market. Therefore, formalizing BTC exchange-traded funds makes traditional finance more competitive in navigating the leading cryptocurrency’s price action.
IBIT price analysis
In the meantime, IBIT closed the week at $39.55, trading as high as $40.20 on March 8. This represents a 41.55% gain in 39 trading days since its launch – following Bitcoin’s performance.
As for the volume, IBIT registered $1.145 billion on NASDAQ in the period, evidenced by the trust’s daily chart.
IBIT daily chart on NASDAQ. Source: TradingView(Finbold)
It is important to understand that acquiring exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs has notable trade-offs over buying and holding BTC. For example, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust charges a 0.25% fee from its shareholders. Moreover, the asset is locked under the custody of Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), exposed to systemic risks, as observed lately.
We are aware that some users may be experiencing errors when transacting. Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update shortly. Your assets are safe.
— Coinbase Support (@CoinbaseSupport) March 5, 2024Nevertheless, users who trust BlackRock, Coinbase, and other service providers can opt to invest in IBIT or any of the 10 available spot Bitcoin ETFs and speculate on BTC’s performance moving forward.
In this context, investors must be cautious and understand cryptocurrencies‘ inherent volatility and unpredictability, allocating capital accordingly.
Disclaimer: The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.
