Bitcoin ETF Inflows Top $303 Million, Buoyed by Fidelity and GBTC

By Stephen Graves

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF inflows hit a two-week high of $303 million as the price of Bitcoin surged beyond $66,000.

Per data from Farside Investors, all the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs—barring BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)—saw inflows on May 15th, with IBIT recording zero inflows or outflows for a third straight day. Fidelity's FBTC led the charge with inflows of $131.3 million, while Grayscale's GBTC saw its first day of inflows in a week, drawing in $27 million.

The ETF inflows came as Bitcoin's price jumped, following a Wednesday report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that inflation had eased slightly in April.

This week, quarterly 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revealed that institutional investors have bought into the spot Bitcoin ETFs.

They include $64 billion hedge fund Millennium Management, which has holdings of almost $2 billion in Bitcoin ETFs across IBIT, FBTC, GBTC, Ark Invest's ARKB and Bitwise's BITB; Elliot Capital, which holds $12 million in IBIT, and Apollo Management Holdings, which holds over $53 million in ARKB.

In addition, the State of Wisconsin's Investment Board became one of the first U.S. public pension funds to allocate a portion of its holdings to spot Bitcoin ETFs. The Board revealed in a 13F filing that it had invested $163 million in Bitcoin ETFs, across one million shares in GBTC, totalling $63.7 million, and 2.5 million shares in IBIT, worth $99.2 million.

A 13F filing is a quarterly report made by large hedge funds and investment managers detailing how they've allocated assets. The reports get filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 45 days after the end of each quarter.

Earlier this month, Fidelity Digital Assets vice president Manuel Nordeste revealed that defined benefit plans and other pension funds “are only starting to talk to their investment committees,” at an event in London. In March, a bill before the Arizona state senate aimed to encourage the state’s portfolio of retirement plans for government workers to include Bitcoin ETFs.

The bill noted that the Arizona State Retirement System should "Closely monitor the developments in Bitcoin ETFs and other digital asset ETFs and consider the implications of including such assets in their investment portfolios."

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

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