MicroStrategy, a company founded by Michael Saylor, has amassed 190,000 bitcoins (R$45 billion) in the past three years. However, with just one month of existence, new ETFs in the US have already exceeded that amount.
While BlackRock holds 82,500 BTC in its ETF, Fidelity is close behind with 66,600 bitcoins. The sum of the two amounts to more than 149,100 bitcoins. Smaller managers such as Ark Invest and Bitwise then supplement the account.
Bitcoin is priced at $47,500 at the time of writing and this 11.4% weekly increase may be related to the success of ETFs. Another reason would be speculation about the arrival of the halving, scheduled for the end of April.
ETFs and funds represent the largest investments in Bitcoin
The Bitcoin Treasuries page divides Bitcoin investors into 5 categories: public companies, private companies, ETFs, DeFi, and governments. To the surprise of some, ETFs and funds own the largest percentage of Bitcoin supply.
The smallest sector is DeFi and smart contracts, which represents only 0.76% of the market. Next come public and private companies, with 1.3% and 2.31% respectively. Governments, led by the US and China, control another 2.69% of the supply, due to seizures.
ETFs own 3.89% of the 21 million bitcoin supply. In total, there are almost 817,000 BTC in their wallets, which represents the largest number of the 5 divisions.
| / | Bitcoins | Value in USD | |
| Public companies | 272,508 | $12.9 billion | 1.30% |
| ETFs and funds | 816,912 | $38.8 billion | 3.89% |
| DeFi | 158,881 | $7.5 billion | 0.76% |
| Private companies | 485,829 | $23 billion | 2.31% |
| Governments | 565,659 | $26.8 billion | 2.69% |
Most of these bitcoins are linked to GBTC, a Grayscale fund founded in 2013 and converted into an ETF early this year. However, the “new ETFs,” as they are called, are already getting noticed.
In just 1 month on the market, managers such as BlackRock, Fidelity, Ark Invest, Bitwise, Invesco and VanEck have already collected more than 190,000 bitcoins. The amount already exceeds MicroStrategy’s investments, which not only took more than three years to build up, but were also heavily criticized during the last bear market.
If they manage to continue at this pace, the new ETFs could end the year with more than 2.3 million bitcoins in their portfolios. To some experts, this means there may be a ‘shortage’ of BTC for Wall Street, which could cause a demand shock and a major rally.
Bitcoin surpasses $47,500
After starting to rise last Wednesday (7), Bitcoin gained momentum and surpassed $47,500 on Friday (9). Since the beginning of the year, the asset has already risen 12%, continuing the bull market that started in 2023.
As on other days of the week, a volume spike was recorded on Coinbase at 5:00 PM Brasilia time. This is when managers make changes to their ETFs and therefore may be behind this move.
Therefore, the next barrier to break is the $50,000 resistance. For the most bullish ETFs, the arrival of the halving and the possible reduction in US interest rates could see Bitcoin reach a new all-time high this year.
Source: Live Coins
Barry Siefert is an accomplished journalist and author at The Nation View. He is known for his expertise in the field of cryptocurrency, and has written extensively on the topic. With a background in finance and economics, Barry has a deep understanding of the underlying technology and market forces that drive the crypto industry.
