BlackRock: The launch of spot BTC ETFs attracted newcomers to the stock market

What’s new? Last week, net inflows into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the US exceeded $2,1 billion, with half of those sales coming from the IBIT fund from BlackRock, the world’s largest investment firm with $11,5 trillion in assets under management. According to BlackRock’s ETF investment director Samara Cohen, the vast majority of IBIT investors have never invested in the company’s other equity market products before.

Material by CNBC

What else is known? Cohen said in an interview with CNBC that part of the strategy to attract clients to the company’s funds was to educate crypto investors on the benefits of exchange-traded products. The strategy has been effective: according to quarterly reports on Form 13F, which publishes data on large investors’ equity positions, 80% of buyers of new spot bitcoin products in the United States are direct investors. Cohen said that of the 80% direct investors, 75% had never before owned shares of BlackRock’s iShare Group iShare exchange-traded funds.

In August, Morgan Stanley became the first major bank in the US to allow its 15 000 financial advisors to offer clients with more than $1,5 million in capital to invest in shares of bitcoin funds from BlackRock and Fidelity.

The total market capitalization of all eleven US bitcoin ETFs exceeds $63 billion, with total inflows approaching $20 billion. The surge in trading volume comes after BTC climbed above $68 300 last week, its highest since July.

Bitcoin ended Q3 up about 140% year-over-year, outperforming the S&P 500 stock index. Shares of Coinbase (COIN), the largest US crypto exchange, rose by 24% for the week, its best performance since February.

Before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the green light to spot bitcoin funds in January, investors had several ways to buy and hold cryptocurrencies. Centralized exchanges (CEXs) such as Coinbase were one of the most convenient options for US investors. However, the successful debut of bitcoin funds showed Wall Street players that digital exchanges do not fully satisfy crypto investors.

a16z: The global number of crypto users reached a maximum of 617 million in September

The leader was the Solana network, with 100 million active addresses per month

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According to a report by blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, North America remains the largest crypto market in the world, accounting for nearly 23% of all crypto trading volume. Between July 2023 and July 2024, $1,3 trillion worth of on-chain transactions were conducted in the region.

Venture capital firm a16z in its recent report on the state of the crypto market indicated that more than 40 million Americans own cryptocurrency.