Grayscale’s GBTC stops bleeding: First net inflows since launch

GBTC has had its first day of net inflows since it was converted into a spot Bitcoin ETF in January.
GBTC has had its first day of net inflows since it was converted into a spot Bitcoin ETF in January.

Grayscale Investments has achieved its first day of net positive inflows for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund (ETF). This comes after nearly four months of continuous outflows since its conversion to a spot Bitcoin ETF in January.

On May 3, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) recorded $63 million of net inflows after recording approximately $17.5 billion of outflows since 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs launched on Jan. 11, according to Farside preliminary data.

Among the other funds reported so far, Franklin Templeton’s Bitcoin ETF saw its highest-ever inflows of $60.9 million.

Meanwhile, Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund led the day’s inflows with $102.6 million, followed by the Bitwise Bitcoin Fund with $33.5 million and the Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF with $33.2 million.

Grayscale’s GBTC recorded its first day of inflows on May 3. Source: Farside 

The crypto community has been speculating how the turn in events might impact the price of Bitcoin (BTC). 

Pseudonymous crypto investor DivXman told his followers that the GBTC was the “primary source” of sell pressure across all spot Bitcoin ETFs, but “the tides” could be turning.

“That effectively means a significant decrease in sell pressure and additional increase in demand while ETFs collectively are buying more BTC than miners can create,” he explained to his 20,800 X followers in a May 3 post.

Crypto trader Jelle predicted to his 80,300 X followers on the same day that Bitcoin’s new all-time high is on the horizon.

“60 million dollars worth of inflows for Grayscale’s ETF. The halving chop will come to an end, and 6-figure Bitcoin will follow shortly after.”

Related: Grayscale spot Bitcoin ETF ‘halves’ before BTC halving

Meanwhile, crypto trader Jordan Lindsey responded to the news by pointing to Bitcoin’s price, saying it is “obviously responding both to outflows and inflows.”

Bitcoin’s price has increased 4.91% over the past 24 hours to $62,840 at the time of publication, according to CoinMarketCap data.

Bitcoin has recovered after trading below a key support level at $58,926. Source: CoinMarketCap

Several factors contributed to Grayscale’s ongoing outflows since the 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs launched. One reason is GBTC’s high fees compared to other available ETFs. GBTC’s fee is 1.5%, whereas other ETF fees are below 1%.

The cheapest is currently Franklin Templeton, with a 0.19% fee. Another main driver is bankrupt crypto firms FTX and Genesis selling off large amounts of GBTC shares in an effort to repay creditors.

On April 6, Cointelegraph reported that Genesis liquidated approximately 36 million GBTC shares for $2.1 billion to purchase 32,041 Bitcoin. 

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