Bitcoin investors pull $333M from BlackRock IBIT ETF in record outflow

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded its biggest daily outflow since it launched a year ago, as US trading resumed following the New Year’s Day closure.

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin (BTC $96,313) exchange-traded fund saw a record outflow of $332.6 million on Jan. 2, according to data from Farside Investors.

It was the biggest outflow since the product launched in January 2024, eclipsing a previous record of $188.7 million on Dec. 24.

The move also marked a third consecutive trading day of outflows for the BTC investment product, another record. Over the past week, IBIT has seen $392.6 million in outflows.

BlackRock ETF outflows accelerate. Source: Thomas Fahrer

The latest outflows may be seen as just a blip as the BlackRock fund ranked third for inflows among all exchange-traded funds in the United States in 2024 with $37.2 billion, according to data from Bloomberg shared by senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. 

The leading ETF was the Vanguard 500 Index Fund with $116 billion in inflows for the year, while the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF closed second with $89 billion in inflows. 

“So maybe in 2025, Bitcoin ETFs take top spot via more inflows and higher prices,” commented Bitcoin pioneer Adam Back. 

Top US ETFs in 2024 by inflows. Source: Eric Balchunas

Bucking BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF outflow trend on Jan. 2 were Bitwise, Fidelity and Ark 21Shares, which saw fund inflows of $48.3 million, $36.2 million and $16.5 million, respectively. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Mini Trust also saw a minor inflow of $6.9 million, but its larger GBTC fund outflowed $23.1 million. 

The total outflow for the day came in at $242 million as BlackRock canceled out the inflows of competitors.

Also on Jan. 2, ETF Store president Nate Geraci made a few predictions for crypto ETFs in 2025. 

These included the launch of combined spot BTC and Ether ETH $3,432.21 ETFs, spot ETH ETF options trading, spot BTC and ETH ETFs with in-kind creation and redemption, staking for spot Ether funds and the approval of a spot Solana SOL $207.56 ETF. “Actually, these all will happen,” he said.