BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has seen a significant increase in its holdings, surpassing MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin (BTC) holdings by nearly 40 days.
This week was the third-best week for IBIT, with 31,588 BTC added to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust holdings. As a result, this puts the trust above MicroStrategy in Bitcoin’s rich list, which currently holds 193,000 BTC after its last purchase on February 26.
Furthermore, MicroStrategy acquired its 193,000 BTC at an average price of $31,554, costing Michael Saylor’s company $6.09 billion. In addition, the formalization of BTC ETFs makes traditional finance more competitive in navigating the leading crypto’s price action.
IBIT closed the week at $39.55, trading as high as $40.20 on March 8. In terms of volume, IBIT registered $1.145 billion on NASDAQ in the period.
Acquiring exposure to spot Bitcoin ETFs has notable trade-offs over buying and holding BTC. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust charges a 0.25% fee from its shareholders and is locked under Coinbase custody, exposed to systemic risks.
However, users who trust BlackRock, Coinbase, and other service providers can invest in IBIT or any of the 10 available spot Bitcoin ETFs and speculate on BTC’s performance moving forward.
