Developments continue to attract attention in the cryptocurrency market regarding spot Bitcoin ETF products. In recent days, the outflows from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust product (GBTC) have slowed down for two consecutive days, and analysts have started to share a glimmer of hope that the frenzy of selling billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin may soon come to an end.
Are GBTC Sales Ending?
Data obtained by BitMEX Research shows that GBTC outflows were $429 million on January 24, which is the smallest daily outflow since the launch of Grayscale’s spot Bitcoin ETF product on January 11, and indicates a 33% slowdown compared to the outflow on January 22 at the beginning of the week.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, in a post dated January 25, noted that GBTC outflows appear to be on a downward trend, but he also pointed out that the sales are still quite large. Balchunas had previously concluded that there were still many unknowns in determining when the mass exodus from GBTC would stop. Approximately 106,092 Bitcoins worth about $4.4 billion were sold on the GBTC front over nine trading days.
The slowdown in daily outflows does not necessarily mean that the sales in GBTC have ended or slowed down. Balchunas had previously estimated that GBTC’s traded shares would lose about 25% of their value before the outflows ended.
Striking Statement from the Data Analysis Team
Blockchain data tracking firm Arkham Intelligence has warned that GBTC transaction data shown on its platform could initially be misinterpreted. Arkham explained in a post dated January 24 that the GBTC outflow data shown on its platform is split between Coinbase Prime and new GBTC custody addresses, meaning not all Bitcoin moved from Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust is necessarily being used. The team stated the following:
“Due to the input-output structure of the blockchain network, Bitcoin transaction data is often split between multiple addresses. GBTC custody wallets frequently send to multiple addresses. This means that a portion of the Bitcoin sent in a transaction can go to a different address than the main recipient shown on the transaction panel.”
