Investment company BlackRock announced that its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) surpassed the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) in assets.
Growth of IBIT Assets
This week, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) reached $33.2 billion, exceeding the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) assets of $32 billion for the first time. Notably, IBIT was launched this year, while IAU has been traded since 2005. At the beginning of the year, IAU held a significant advantage, starting with almost $25 billion more than IBIT.
Performance of Gold and Bitcoin
Gold and bitcoin have shown impressive results this year, with gold prices rising about 80%. Meanwhile, bitcoin (BTCUSD) has outperformed even more, climbing approximately 80% year-to-date and recently reaching a new all-time high above $77,000 on Friday.
Interest in Bitcoin ETF and Its Implications
The increase in IBIT’s value has been driven by a rally in bitcoin. On Thursday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw inflows totaling nearly $1.3 billion, with BlackRock’s IBIT contributing $1.1 billion of that amount, marking an all-time high for IBIT and all other bitcoin ETFs. Bitcoin is currently trading at $76,407.15 at the time of this writing.
BlackRock's achievements with iShares Bitcoin Trust reflect the growing interest in digital assets, particularly bitcoin, highlighting its competitiveness compared to traditional gold investments.
