Bitcoin ETFs overtake Gold ETFs in US market with rapid 11-month growth

US Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) now have more assets under management (AUM) than Gold ETFs. Vetle Lunde, Head of Research at K33 Research, posted the milestone, noting the Bitcoin ETFs’ rapid growth. 

Lunde pointed out that the crypto products have a combined value of approximately $129.25 billion, while the precious metal investment vehicles have assets of $128 billion.

Bloomberg Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also confirmed the development while providing more context about the milestone. According to him, the Bitcoin ETFs’ AUM cuts across all categories, including spot, futures, and leveraged ETFs.

However, the Gold ETF still has a higher AUM than the spot Bitcoin ETFs, at $125 billion to $120 billion. Still, the expert noted the small gap between the two, highlighting the performance of Bitcoin ETFs in such a short period. Compared to Gold ETFs, which have been around for more than 20 years, Bitcoin ETFs launched only 11 months ago.

Over those 11 months, the year-to-date flow into spot Bitcoin ETFs has surpassed 500,000 Bitcoin, enabling the products to absorb over 2.5% of all BTC circulating supply since their launch. Unsurprisingly, the 12 US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs are now the largest holders of Bitcoin combined. They hold over 1.1 million BTC, more than the BTC in the Satoshi Nakamoto wallet.

Bitcoin ETFs now account for 1%  of all ETF assets

Meanwhile, the performance of Bitcoin ETFs has also enabled the flagship asset to make up 1% of all US ETFs. Combined, all US ETFs have around $10 trillion in AUM. The spot Bitcoin ETFs alone have around $120 billion, meaning Bitcoin now accounts for around 1% of that AUM.

This further highlights how the spot Bitcoin ETFs, led by BlackRock IBIT, have shattered all the records set by every ETF launched in the past decade. According to ETF Store president Nate Geraci, BlackRock IBIT is the most successful ETF launch since 2014, emerging number one out of approximately 2,850 ETFs launched within that period.

Many now expect that 2025 will be the year that spot Bitcoin ETFs will finally flip Gold ETFs in value. With the products seeing consecutive days of around half a billion in inflows, it is only a matter of time before they finally overtake gold-based investment products.

Expert expects more ETFs in 2025

Meanwhile, ETF expert James Seyffart has predicted a wave of spot crypto ETFs in 2025. In his recent outlook, the Bloomberg senior analyst believes that the SEC will approve several crypto ETFs next year, starting with the Bitcoin and Ether combo ETFs. Several issuers have already filed applications for this, and it is expected to be easy to approve since both products already have spot ETFs listed.

The Bloomberg senior analyst further said Litecoin ETFs might happen sooner than other digital assets because it is a fork of Bitcoin and has already been considered a commodity. In his view, ETFs for altcoins such as Solana and XRP might have to wait for some time, given the current legal issues surrounding the assets.

He wrote:

“Both Solana and XRP ETFs will have to wait until the new SEC administration takes control before being seriously considered. Even then, complex legal issues around these tokens and others relating to their status as securities may need to be resolved.”

While acknowledging that Litecoin and HBAR, which both have pending applications for ETFs, stand a better chance of getting approval presently as the SEC has not classified any of them as securities, the expert questioned whether sufficient demand for the assets was sufficient to justify their ETFs.

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