Spot Bitcoin ETFs are ‘quietly on hearth’, skilled says

U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds have began the 12 months on a powerful notice, in accordance with Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.

It has been barely over a 12 months for the reason that Securities and Change Fee accredited the launch of spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs for the U.S. market. After reaching report web inflows and belongings beneath administration in 2024, spot BTC ETFs have entered 2025 with notable momentum.

In a put up on X on Jan. 24, Balchunas highlighted the spectacular efficiency of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Funds comparable to BlackRock’s IBIT, Constancy’s FBTC, and Ark/21Shares’ ARKB have seen important inflows 12 months up to now. IBIT recorded web inflows of over $2.3 billion YTD, whereas FBTC attracted over $1.1 billion.

“The spot bitcoin ETFs quietly on hearth to begin the 12 months, with $4.2b in flows which is 6% of all ETF flows,” he famous.

Since their launch, these ETFs have garnered greater than $40 billion in web inflows, with whole AUM now exceeding $121 billion.

With a return of roughly 127%, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have now surpassed environmental, social, and governance ETFs in whole belongings. Main ESG ETFs, comparable to Vanguard ESG U.S. Inventory ETF, iShares International Clear Power ETF, and SPDR S&P 500 Fossil Gas Reserves Free ETF, collectively maintain about $117 billion in AUM.

Based on Balchunas, web belongings held in spot Bitcoin ETFs at the moment are “about the identical as gold spot.”

Whereas BTC ETFs are off to a powerful begin this 12 months, the Ethereum (ETH) market has not seen the identical stage of traction. In the meantime, the crypto market has witnessed a surge of exercise with new altcoin ETF filings, together with ones for Solana, XRP, Litecoin, TRUMP and Dogecoin.

Might these altcoin ETFs pose a menace to U.S. spot Bitcoin funds? Balchunas doesn’t imagine so.

“For extra context, Ether ETFs are like +$130m YTD, which isn’t dangerous, however for this reason BTC is on one other stage and can completely dominate this class. Even when we see like 10 altcoin ETFs roll out, they’ll draw headlines however battle over crumbs (albeit sizable ones) comparatively talking,” he posted on X.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded web inflows of $188 million on Jan. 23, marking the sixth consecutive day of constructive flows. In 2025 alone, these funds have seen over $1 billion in web inflows on Jan. 17 and greater than $805 million on Jan. 21.

Notably, the slowdown to $188 million got here because the market reacted to former President Trump’s crypto government order.