BlackRock Takes The Crypto ETF Throne, Surpasses Grayscale With The Largest Holdings

According to the latest data, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock has added another feather to its cap, becoming the company with the largest crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings. 

Here’s How BlackRock’s ETFs Compare To Grayscale’s Funds

Crypto intelligence platform Arkham revealed in a post on X that BlackRock has usurped Grayscale to become the asset management firm with the largest crypto ETF holdings. Data from Arkham shows that BlackRock’s exchange-traded funds boast $21,217,107,987, while Grayscale’s ETFs has $21,202,480,698 worth of crypto assets under management (AUM).

The trillion-dollar asset manager was able to take this position with its two funds, IBIT (spot Bitcoin ETF) and ETHA (spot Ethereum ETF), despite Grayscale offering four funds; GBTC (spot Bitcoin ETF), BTC Mini, ETHE (spot Ethereum ETF), and ETH Mini. It is worth noting, though, that the Grayscale entity still has a higher balance than BlackRock due to the GDLC fund, which is not an ETF and has $460 million in AUM.

Since the Bitcoin exchange-traded fund launched in January, BlackRock’s IBIT has unsurprisingly been one of the strongest performers in the ETF market. In a recent post on X, The ETF Store president Nate Geraci revealed that the iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) has had only one day of outflows since its debut in early 2024.

iShares Bitcoin ETF has *one* day of outflows since launching in January…

One day.

$20.5bil inflows.

Top launch of 2024.

This is exactly what “no demand” looks like.

via @thomas_fahrer pic.twitter.com/k11aDKGudM

— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) August 17, 2024

In contrast, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has only had 12 days of inflows since launching, culminating in a total net outflow of $19.65 billion. This trend played a major part in Grayscale losing the top position in terms of AUM to BlackRock.

This is further highlighted by the recent moves by investment banks Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, who disclosed their substantial holdings of the iShares Bitcoin ETF. Morgan Stanley, specifically, revealed that it had nearly dumped all its almost $270 million position in the GBTC shares.

Spot Bitcoin ETF Posts Positive Week — What About The ETH ETFs?

While the spot Bitcoin ETFs put in a positive performance in the past week, their Ethereum counterparts have failed to make their mark. Despite starting the week strongly with three consecutive days of inflow, the spot Ethereum ETFs closed on Friday with a cumulative net outflow of $14.17 million.

Bitcoin ETFs, on the other hand, recorded a total net inflow of $32.57 million in the past week. This disparity in capital flow basically underscores the difference in the acceptance of the Bitcoin funds and the recently launched Ethereum products, especially in the months following their debut.