Bitcoin ETFs Make Record-Breaking 100K BTC Buy in a Week

Bitcoin ETFs Make Record-Breaking 100K BTC Purchase in a Single Week

Written by Gile K.,

Market Sentiment Analyst

Last Updated: January 24, 2024

Key Takeaways

Nine spot Bitcoin ETFs, including major players like BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, acquired a remarkable 102,613 BTC in just one week.
This aggressive buying contrasted sharply with the selling strategy of Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF, which offloaded over 80,000 BTC.
The scale of acquisition by these ETFs is significant, representing over half of the total BTC holdings of MicroStrategy.

The cryptocurrency landscape witnessed a remarkable shift as nine spot Bitcoin ETFs, including industry giants BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Fidelity's Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), collectively snapped up an impressive 102,613 BTC in their first week after launching on January 11th.

This spree of acquisitions, valued at around $4.1 billion, marks a notable contrast to the approach taken by Grayscale's Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF), which sold off more than 80,000 BTC following its trading debut.

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The scale of this acquisition is underscored by comparisons with MicroStrategy. This major BTC investor amassed 189,150 BTC over three years, with the ETFs' purchases amounting to 53% of this total in just seven days. According to MicroStrategy, the company's journey to cross the 100,000 BTC threshold took about 300 days.

Leading the pack among the spot BTC ETFs, BlackRock's IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC were the top Bitcoin buyers, securing 37,304 BTC and 29,232 BTC, respectively. Other significant contributors included the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) with 16,451 BTC acquisition and the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) with 10,630 BTC.

Contrasting this buying spree, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), the largest Bitcoin ETF by BTC holdings, embarked on a selling trend, offloading 82,526 BTC. Valued at approximately $3 billion, this sell-off contributed to a notable dip in Bitcoin's price.

The cryptocurrency experienced a nearly 20% drop, falling from over $48,000 on January 11th to a low of $38,700 by January 23rd. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has slightly recovered, trading at $40,056, marking a 3.5% increase over the past 24 hours.

This aggressive acquisition strategy by the nine spot Bitcoin ETFs signifies a dynamic shift in the cryptocurrency investment landscape, setting a new precedent in the scale and speed of Bitcoin accumulation.