On January 11, exactly one year passed since the first U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) started trading. Experts highlighted the segment’s impressive growth and predicted even greater institutional interest.

Milestones

According to SoSoValue, since their launch, 12 ETF issuers have collectively accumulated 1.13 million BTC worth $106.6 billion—about 5.4% of the total Bitcoin supply. The combined trading volume of these ETFs reached $660 billion.

During the initial weeks, BlackRock, Fidelity, and Grayscale stood out by trading volume. Grayscale in particular saw heavy redemptions in its converted GBTC trust, while other ETFs experienced net inflows—investors looked to capitalize on the shrinking GBTC discount.

In December, as Bitcoin topped $100,000, the total assets under management (AUM) across all American Bitcoin ETFs surpassed similar products based on gold. Notably, it took gold-based ETFs around 20 years to hit the $130 billion mark, whereas Bitcoin-based funds did so in under a year.

Eric Turner, CEO of Bitwise (not to be confused with Eric Turner from other references), remarked that fiscal policies in 2024 have driven interest in these new instruments.

“Central banks lowering interest rates created a favorable macro environment for Bitcoin, drawing in capital as liquidity improved,” he said.

Market Leaders

Initially, the segment was dominated by Grayscale’s GBTC, which converted to an ETF with a preexisting large AUM. By the end of May, however, IBIT from BlackRock surpassed GBTC.

Today, IBIT still holds the top spot with $52.7 billion in AUM. At launch in January, IBIT managed 2,621 BTC; as of now, it holds 557,881 BTC.

Fidelity’s FBTC ranks second by AUM ($19.5 billion), while GBTC has slipped to third place at $19.3 billion.

Greg Magadini, Director of Derivatives at Amberdata, noted that IBIT’s popularity is also felt in the options market.

“Launched in November, IBIT options are already in the top dozen most actively traded contracts, ahead of GOOGL and META, and on par with AMZN,” he said.

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart observed that four spot Bitcoin ETFs—IBIT, FBTC, ARKB, and BITB—are now among the top 20 U.S. ETF launches by total assets gathered in their first year. BlackRock’s product set a new record for the fastest AUM accumulation over that span.

Just how big was the first year for Bitcoin ETFs?
MASSIVE

Here's a list of the largest ETFs 1 year after they launched. Even if you inflation adjust the assets, 4 of the Bitcoin ETFs are in the top 20 US ETF launches of all time. $IBIT, $FBTC, $ARKB, and $BITB pic.twitter.com/MQuf6wp9Fe
— James Seyffart (@JSeyff) January 10, 2025

Bitcoin Adoption

According to Bobby Zagotta, Head of the U.S. division at crypto exchange Bitstamp, “It’s hard to overstate the importance of that moment when the first Bitcoin ETF was approved.”

In his view, the approval gave Bitcoin two critical advantages. First, the ETFs granted the leading cryptocurrency a measure of “legitimacy” at a regulatory level by acknowledging it as an investable asset class.

Second, ETFs provide a familiar format for investors to access digital gold.

“People have dealt with ETFs for a long time, so they understand how it works. Buying Bitcoin became straightforward for most market participants, both retail and institutional,” Zagotta explained.

Steven McClurg, CEO of Canary Capital, pointed out that the 12-month mark is important for any ETF because after this period, financial advisors begin to consider offering the product to their clients.

However, that doesn’t imply immediate inflows—it can take six months to two years for significant investments to materialize, McClurg added.

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