GBTC breaks 16-week outflow streak with $63 million inflow on May 3

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) experienced $63.0 million in inflows on May 3, Farside data indicates.

The relevant daily inflows mark the first time since GBTC’s January launch that the fund avoided outflows, breaking its 16-week outflow streak.

However, GBTC’s latest day of inflows is lower than its average daily outflows over the past several weeks of trading. The fund’s total outflows currently stand at $17.5 billion.

GBTC has $18.1 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of May 6, making it the largest spot Bitcoin ETF by AUM, according to Coinglass data.

Possible causes

Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart speculated on the cause of GBTC’s latest inflows, saying that insiders or executives at Grayscale could have made the purchases or that market makers that used GBTC to hedge other ETFs could be the cause.

Castle Island Ventures partner Nic Carter suggested that an advertisement at LaGuardia Airport could have prompted a significant investment.

Seyffart acknowledged Carter’s theory, simply writing: “Maybe that.”

Others expressed skepticism that inflows are sustainable. Blue Stone Investments owner Larry Bi called the trend “short-term abnormal” and predicted that “outflow will continue” partly because GBTC has higher fees than competing spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The long-standing outflows can be attributed partly to Grayscale’s pause on GBTC redemptions prior to the fund’s conversion to an ETF. The GBTC’s January ETF approval allowed users to sell positions they had held for an extended period, leading to outflows.

FTX and Genesis’ sales of GBTC also contributed to outflows, while GBTC’s high fees may have limited inflows.

Other ETF performance

Nine other spot Bitcoin ETFs also saw daily inflows on May 3.

According to Farside data, only Fidelity’s FBTC outperformed GBTC with $102.6 million in inflows. Franklin Templeton’s EZBC saw $60.9 million in inflows. Valkyrie‘s BRRR saw $35.6 million in inflows, Invesco’s BTCO saw $33.2 million, and Ark’s ARKB saw $28.1 million.

VanEck’s HODL saw $8.7 million in inflows, while Wisdom’s BTCW saw zero flows.

BlackRock’s IBIT, the second largest spot Bitcoin ETF by AUM, saw just $12.7 million in inflows on May 3.

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