CEO of Bianco Research Jim Bianco recently said that Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. will need more time to move from being specialized tools to being big growth generators. Bianco wrote on September 8 that he wasn’t sure how well these funds were doing right now, even though they were raised with high hopes at the beginning of the year.
Bianco said that the spot Bitcoin ETFs have not had the effect that was hoped for since they began in January. He said that new information shows that in the last eight trading days, more than $1 billion has been taken out of the 11 U.S. Bitcoin ETFs. In March, $61 billion was the most money that these funds were in charge of. That amount is now only about $48 billion. He saw that most of the new money going into ETFs lately wasn’t from people who were buying them for the first time. Instead, it was from people who already owned cryptocurrencies moving their money back to regular bank accounts.
7/8
— Jim Bianco (@biancoresearch) September 8, 2024
What about the adoption of investment (wealth) advisors?
Small
BTC ETF holdings account for 9% of shares outstanding. Hedge funds add another ~12% (mostly basis trades, not directional bets).
About 85% is NOT from tradfi institutions.
Note that all are holding losses. pic.twitter.com/2MMbmezxUH
Bianco believes that the Bitcoin ETF market might not reach its full potential until 2028, when Bitcoin will be split in half again and blockchain technology will make big strides forward. That was very clear. These ETFs need more time and work before they can be a big part of the financial world.
Need help: If $IBIT has like >$20b in assets (in 8mo btw) and that’s considered a failure then what word should be used to describe an ETF w $7m in assets?
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) September 8, 2024
Bianco is still on guard, but other experts have told him that things for Bitcoin ETFs are not as bad as he says. Take the BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) as an example. It has over $20 billion in it. A lot of money has also been put into other top Bitcoin ETFs. Different people have different opinions, but most agree that Bitcoin ETFs are a big step forward. However, they may not fully change how people use coins for a while.
