U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Reach 500,000 BTC in Cumulative Net Inflows

The 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) surpassed 500,000 BTC in cumulative net inflows on Wednesday, less than a year after trading began on January 11.

“Year-to-date flows to spot ETFs have surpassed 500,000 BTC,” noted K33 Head of Research Vetle Lunde. “U.S. ETFs have absorbed more than 2.5% of the circulating supply since their launch in January.” Bitcoin’s current circulating supply is around 19.8 million BTC, according to The Block’s Bitcoin Price Page, with a total supply of 21 million BTC.

Net inflows of $223.1 million into the spot Bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday brought them over the milestone, reaching 500,925 BTC, led by $121.9 million worth of net inflows into Fidelity’s FBTC fund. The spot Bitcoin ETFs are now on a 10-day inflow streak totaling nearly $4.3 billion, with cumulative net inflows of $34.7 million since launch in dollar terms.

BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF alone had already exceeded 500,000 BTC in net inflows last week. However, significant net outflows from Grayscale’s converted and higher-fee GBTC fund mean that the spot Bitcoin ETFs overall have reached that level only recently in terms of cumulative flows.

IBIT has also now overtaken BlackRock’s gold ETF, the iShares Gold Trust (IAU), according to CryptoQaunt CEO Ki Young Ju, with more than $50 billion in assets under management. “Smart money already knows the winner,” he posted on X. “In a market blending dumb money, gold's market cap is $17T, Bitcoin's $2T. Be on the right side of history.”

U.S. Spot Bitcoin ETFs Hold More Bitcoin Than Satoshi

On Friday, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF surpassed the 1.1 million BTC estimated to be held by the cryptocurrency’s pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto for the first time. Holdings differ from cumulative flows, primarily due to the substantial bitcoin holdings GBTC carried over during its conversion from a closed-end fund and its subsequent outflows.

BlackRock’s IBIT leads the spot Bitcoin ETFs by on-chain holdings with more than 520,000 BTC, according to The Block’s data dashboard, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with over 247,000 BTC and Grayscale’s GBTC with 210,000 BTC — down from a head start of around 619,000 BTC on January 11.