$73 Million Exodus: BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Suffers Record-Breaking Outflow

A major player in the cryptocurrency market found itself on an unusual side of history after experiencing its largest outflows in months.

The leading asset manager BlackRock ended the inflow streak of its Bitcoin exchange-traded fund after recording a $72.7 million worth of outflow on December 20.

Largest Outflow On Record

Data showed that BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) witnessed the largest outflow since it was launched in January this year.

According to Farside Investors, the global asset manager’s Bitcoin ETF posted an outflow of 72.7 million in December, the highest on record for IBIT. They added that this came a day after IBIT registered zero flows, making investors anxious about the exchange-traded fund.

IBIT is not alone as fellow ETF issuer Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) also hit an all-time high outflow of $208.5 million on December 19, a day before IBIT hit the same ordeal.

Analysts said that the following day, December 20, FBTC recorded another outflow of about $71.9 million, making the EFT suffer a two-day outflow streak.

IBIT and FBTC are among the top performing exchange-traded funds in the United States. The ETF issuers were ranked 1 and 2 among the top 25 ETFs in terms of assets after one month in the market.

Market observers said that the US Spot Bicoin ETF market’s record-high two consecutive day outflow was fueled by the all-time high outflows experienced by BlackRock and Fidelity.

Data showed that the ETF market lost $671.9 million on December 19 and another $277 million in outflows the next day, December 20.

Some Investors Are Concerned

The massive outflows experienced by the two of the biggest ETF issuers in the US sparked concerns from crypto investors on what could be the outlook for the ETFs in the upcoming months.

However, analysts believed that the ordeal faced by BlackRock and Fidelity should not surprise traders since both international asset management firms have largely accounted for the large inflows.

Some investors are concerned that recent development in ETFs might become a turning point that could lead to substantive decrease in the institutional investors’ appetite for Bitcoin exposure.

Market observers argued that outflows might not linger, adding that after Bitcoin plummeted to $92,710 earlier, the alpha crypto has been bouncing back and moving up again.

Trading analysts said that Bitcoin’s market volume dipped to $59.50 billion, a 52% decline in its total volume, contradicting the bullish run enjoyed by the crypto after Donald Trump won the US election last month.

During the crypto bull run, Bitcoin reached its all-time high of $108,000 per coin in November.

In the same month, the US spot Bitcoin ETF also benefited from the crypto bull market after hitting a record-high of $6.2 billion in net inflows.

As of press time, Bitcoin is traded at $95,359 per coin, down by 1.3% in the last 24 hours, with a total market capitalization of $1.9 trillion.

Featured image from CNN, chart from TradingView