After another robust day of inflows, IBIT’s latest filings reveal it held a whopping 195,985 bitcoins as of Friday. In contrast, MicroStrategy’s public disclosures, dated February 26, report a slightly smaller stash of 193,000 tokens.
Earlier this week, MicroStrategy rolled out a $700 million capital raise, explicitly aimed at snapping up additional bitcoin, hinting that their total reserves might have grown beyond that number.
IBIT’s Spot ETF Expansion Since January
Since the January 11 debut of spot ETFs, BlackRock’s IBIT has routinely snapped up bitcoin worth hundreds of millions daily, swiftly cementing its status as the biggest of the fresh spot offerings — if we set aside the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which morphed from a closed-end fund rather than launching from scratch.
Grayscale’s Shrinking But Still Substantial Holdings
Trailing IBIT is Grayscale’s GBTC, whose bitcoin hoard has shriveled by over 200,000 coins since the new spot ETFs started trading. Even so, it still commands a hefty portfolio of approximately 400,000 tokens.
Between January and now, bitcoin’s price has surged dramatically, fueled largely by escalating demand for these new spot ETFs.
| Bitcoin Price Increase in 2024 | 60%+ |
| Bitcoin Price Peak | $70,136 (Record High) |
| IBIT Bitcoin Holdings | 195,985 BTC |
| MicroStrategy Holdings (Feb 26) | 193,000 BTC |
| GBTC Bitcoins Lost Since Spot ETF Launch | 200,000+ BTC |
Bitcoin’s Meteoric Price Rise
The insatiable appetite for these spot ETFs underlies bitcoin’s staggering price rally this year. On Friday morning, bitcoin breached the $70,000 barrier for the first time ever, eventually touching a fresh peak of $70,136, per CoinDesk Indices data. At the moment of writing, prices hovered just shy of $70,000.
- IBIT’s dominance: cemented as the flagship spot ETF by consistent, massive daily bitcoin buys.
- MicroStrategy’s strategy: leveraging fresh capital to bulk up its bitcoin inventory.
- Grayscale’s position: diminished holdings but still a heavyweight player with 400,000 BTC.
