BlackRock's
What Happened: According to data from SoSoValue, IBIT saw an unprecedented $872 million in net inflows on Wednesday, surpassing its previous high set in March. This surge contributed to a total of $893.21 million in net inflows across U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, marking their second-highest daily total since launch.
Rachael Lucas, a crypto analyst at BTCMarkets, told The Block that central banks' global shift towards reducing interest rates and the anticipation of a potential Trump victory in the upcoming U.S. presidential election may be influencing investor behavior.
The significant inflows also caught the attention of industry observers. Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas noted on X (formerly Twitter) that these "Herculean" inflows may have pushed the total bitcoin holdings of U.S. spot ETFs over the 1 million mark.
Balchunas even predicts that by the end of November, these ETFs could become the world's largest bitcoin holders, potentially surpassing the estimated 1.1 million BTC held by Bitcoin's mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.
Adding to this analysis, pseudonymous analyst The FlowHorse highlighted that CME saw increased open interest and volume while prices remained stable. In the analyst's opinion, this points to a carry trade being executed in the markets, where investors borrow in dollars to invest in bitcoin.
This surge in institutional interest comes as Bitcoin's price hovers near its all-time high, trading around $72,200 at the time of writing, up 0.5% over the past 24 hours. The record inflows come against the backdrop of Michael Saylor announcing a $42 billion Bitcoin purchase plan for MicroStrategy.
