United States-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds witnessed the largest joint outflow on record on March 19, with a total of $326 million leaving 10 funds. As of March 19, Grayscale reported that the assets under management of its Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) exceeded $23.7 billion. If the outflows continue at the current rate, GBTC could run out of assets by the end of July.
Diminishing Interest in ETF Funds
According to Farside Investors data, Grayscale’s GBTC fund saw a net outflow of $443.5 million during the day, while BlackRock, Fidelity, and Bitwise’s ETF funds were the only ones to see net inflows. The three funds together brought in a net inflow of $117.3 million, which was the second-lowest entry day for nine new Bitcoin ETF funds, excluding GBTC.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) fund had the largest net inflow of the day with $75.2 million, while Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) saw $39.6 million. Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) recorded only $2.5 million in net inflows, which was the lowest day on record, excluding days with zero new entries.
What’s Happening on the Bitcoin Front?
ETF outflows on March 19 were more than double the previous record outflow day of $158.3 million on January 24, marking the second consecutive day of net outflows for the funds. The significant outflows occurred as the price of Bitcoin fell to $62,400 during US trading hours on March 19 and continued its decline after reaching an all-time high of $73,835 on March 14.
According to Tradingview data, Bitcoin fell by 5.4% in the last 24 hours, trading above its intraday low of $60,872 and at $63,015 at the time of writing.
March 18 saw GBTC’s largest net outflow of $642.5 million. Overall, the fund has witnessed approximately $12.9 billion in outflows over the 49 trading days since it transitioned from a trust to an ETF fund on January 11. The macroeconomic process in the US and expectations towards the halving event have contributed to the acceleration of this trend.