The largest Bitcoin fund in the world is currently BlackRock’s $20 billion exchange-traded fund

BlackRock Inc.’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has grown to become the largest cryptocurrency fund in the world, with nearly $20 billion in total assets since listing in the US at the beginning of the year.

Bloomberg data indicates that as of Tuesday, the exchange-traded fund held $19.68 billion of the token, overtaking the $19.65 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, with Fidelity Investments’ $11.1 billion offering coming in third.

The over-ten-year-old Grayscale vehicle was converted into an ETF on January 11, the same day that nine Bitcoin ETFs, including those from BlackRock and Fidelity, debuted. The token’s rise to a record $73,798 by March was sparked by the launches, which marked a turning point for the cryptocurrency industry by making Bitcoin more accessible to investors.

Since its launch, investors have put $16.5 billion into the iShares Bitcoin Trust, while they have taken $17.7 billion out of the Grayscale fund in the same time frame. Outflows may have been caused by the latter’s higher fees and arbitrager exits.

Outside of regular US business hours, neither BlackRock nor Grayscale Investments LLC provided a prompt response to requests for comment. According to a March regulatory filing, Grayscale plans to start a clone of its main fund. At that time, a person familiar with the matter stated that lower fees were anticipated.

In January of 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission reluctantly approved the first US spot-bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after a court ruling in favor of Grayscale.

The company established the largest vehicle of its kind, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, in 2013. However, Grayscale pressed for an ETF conversion to guarantee parity in trading after discovering that shares of the closed-ended product occasionally traded at significant premiums or discounts to its net asset value.