- BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF saw inflows of $184.4 million, bringing the 2024 total to $17.944 billion.
- Institutional ETFs are closing in on Satoshi’s holdings, and could surpass them by the end of the year.
After a period marked by minimal activity, BlackRock’s Bitcoin (BTC) ETF (IBIT) has regained strength, seeing substantial inflows starting September 23.
Bitcoin ETF Performance Analysis
Notably, on September 25, IBIT saw an impressive inflow of $184.4 million, while the total inflow across all Bitcoin ETFs stood at $105.9 million.
In contrast, Grayscale’s GBTC, which typically experiences outflows, reported no movement on the same day.
However, Fidelity’s FBTC and Ark’s ARKB saw capital outflows of $33.2 million and $47.4 million, respectively.
This resurgence in ETF activity has propelled the US BTC ETF to an incredible $17.944 billion in inflows for 2024, marking a record year-to-date accumulation of 916,047 BTC, or only about 84 000 BTC less than the coveted milestone of 1,000,000 BTC.
Noting this impressive growth, Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, turned to X and noted:
“US Bitcoin ETFs had a good day yesterday, pushing cumulative flows to a new record of $17.8 billion. They are now 92% of the way to owning 1 million bitcoins and 83% of the way to overtaking Satoshi as the largest holder. Tick tock…”
Is Satoshi Nakamoto’s place under threat?
Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, is estimated to hold around 1.1 million BTC, a figure that institutional BTC ETFs are quickly closing in on.
Recent data indicates that these ETFs have now accumulated approximately 83% of Satoshi’s holdings, and if the trend of increasing capital flows continues, they could soon surpass it.
Currently, Satoshi Nakamoto tops the list of major Bitcoin holders, closely followed by Binance with 673,783 BTC.
Notably, major asset managers like BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale collectively hold 901,101 BTC through their ETF products, with individual holdings of 359,271 BTC, 287,153 BTC, and 254,677 BTC, respectively.
Source: Éric Balchunas/X
In contrast, the remaining five asset managers with BTC ETFs own a combined total of just 14,946 BTC.
Sharing a similar line of thinking, Spencer Hakimian, founder of Tolou Capital Management, said:
“ETF will be bigger than Satoshi by Christmas Day.”
What more is there?
Meanwhile, MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, ranks sixth with 252,220 BTC and is poised to potentially join the top tier of Bitcoin holders.
So while BTC ETFs continue to attract attention, Bitcoin itself has seen a price resurgence.
After experiencing difficulty breaking the $60,000 barrier, BTC was trading at $64,358, reflecting a modest 0.91% increase over the past 24 hours.
