First gold ETF took 2 years to hit $10B, this Bitcoin ETF did it in 2 months

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has crossed $10 billion in assets under management (AUM) in just over seven weeks — a figure that took the first U.S. gold-backed ETF more than two years to achieve. 

As of March 1, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF reached $10 billion in AUM — around 39 trading days since launch.

On the other hand, the United States’ first gold ETF — SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) — took more than two years to do the same following its launch in 2004, according to the Zero Hedge finance blog.

“Bitcoin ETF inflows have absolutely blown gold’s out of the water. Not even close, utterly dwarfed, decimated,” said Reflexivity Research co-founder Will Clemente on March 3.

There were several days of record inflows to spot Bitcoin ETFs last week, with Feb. 26, 27 and 28 exceeding $500 billion for the new nine ETFs.

On March 4, retired venture capitalist Jeff Kirdeikis shared a chart comparing the inflows of BTC ETFs with the outflows of gold funds, adding that Bitcoin products have already accumulated almost half of the value of gold funds since their launch in January.

Goldbug Peter Schiff wasn’t swayed. On March 2, he said CNBC was so fixated on the “sideshow going on with Bitcoin and the new Bitcoin ETFs, that they haven’t even reported on today’s $43 rise in the price of gold or the new record-high price in the gold ETF GLD.”

Spot gold prices returned to near-peak levels of $2,081 per ounce on March 3. However, the precious yellow metal has only gained 1% since the beginning of the year. Comparatively, Bitcoin prices have surged 50% over the same period.

In late February, Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said, “Gold’s pain is Bitcoin ETFs’ gain in the store of value smackdown.” He added that there was a “decent chance” that Bitcoin ETFs would surpass gold ETFs in AUM in less than two years.