BlackRock holds a third as many Bitcoin as Tether after its spot ETF crosses $1 billion in volume

• Over the past four days of trading, BlackRock has amassed 25,067 Bitcoin worth over $1.06 billion.
• During the same time, about $1.08 billion worth of trading volume was recorded.
• Tether recently announced that it purchased 8,888 BTC in Q4 2023, bringing its total to $2.8 billion in holdings.

BlackRock, already the world’s biggest asset manager, has outdone Tether in regard to the pace of accumulation, which has been in the industry since 2014.

The spot Bitcoin ETF race has seen Grayscale leading the pack, but when considering fresh applications, BlackRock stands at the top of the leaderboard. Its rapid pace of expansion is outshining not just competitors but also entities that are not even part of the race, such as Tether.

BlackRock hits the billion mark

Spot Bitcoin ETFs became accessible to users four trading days ago as per the stock market calendar. In these four days of trading, collectively, the new ETFs have registered over $1.29 billion in total flow of assets, i.e., trading volume. 

Of this volume, BlackRock alone is responsible for about $1.08 billion, becoming the first and only spot ETF issuer to reach this milestone. However, its competition is not too far behind as Fidelity has commanded $884 million in trading volume in the same four days.

Nevertheless, the trading price of Bitcoin’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is presently 12.76% below the price at which the ETF was launched. However, despite the decline in price, the volume and assets under management are consistently growing for BlackRock, but such is not the case with Grayscale.

IBIT 1-day chart

Issuer of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), GBTC has become the first of the pack to note outflows. In the past 24 hours, about $458 million have been flown out of the newly converted ETF, bringing the total outflows of GBTC to $1.62 billion.

BlackRock AUM shatters Tether

Tether, the issuer of the USDT stablecoin, confirmed that it had acquired 8,888 BTC worth $378 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, in a statement to The Block. This brought its total holdings to 66,465 BTC, which collectively is worth over $2.8 billion.

On the other hand, BlackRock, in just four days of trading, has added 25,067 BTC worth $1.06 billion to their spot Bitcoin ETF. This is more than a third of the total Bitcoin held by Tether.

Considering that Tether was launched in 2014, BlackRock has managed to outshine the USDT issuer in regard to the pace of BTC accumulation, though not yet on the volume front. Given that BlackRock is the biggest asset management firm in the entire world, holding trillions of dollars worth of assets under its management, it will not be surprising if it does manage to surpass Tether in terms of volume either.