Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) exchange-traded fund (ETF) fervor is back with a raft of new applications and an increase in capital inflows from institutional investors.<\/p>\n On June 26, a surge of inflows to the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO) \u2014 a Bitcoin futures fund \u2014 was observed by Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.<\/p>\n The fund had its largest weekly inflow in a year at $65.3 million with its assets topping $1 billion.<\/p>\n BITO was the first BTC-linked ETF in the United States and is one of the most popular among institutional investors.<\/p>\n Balchunas claimed BITO \u201cpretty much has tracked Bitcoin perfectly,\u201d lagging spot prices by 1.05% annually and has a fee of 0.95%. <\/p>\n The Bitcoin Futures ETF $BITO<\/a> had its biggest weekly inflow in a year as assets top $1b again. It also traded half a billion in shares on Friday, which it’s only done about 5 times before via @SirYappityyapp<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Xrq0lUaaTO<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) June 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n The BITO fund has made a 59.6% gain since the start of 2023 according to ProShares<\/a>. There\u2019s been an uptick in Bitcoin derivatives interest across the board since BlackRock filed<\/a> for its own Bitcoin ETF on June 15. <\/p>\n According to the Deribit crypto options exchange, Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) has surged since last week. It is currently $319 million as of June 25, up around 30% from the same period last week. <\/p>\n OI is a measure of the total number of outstanding futures contracts that have not been settled. <\/p>\n The resurgence in ETF trading and the resultant BTC price pump has also been good news<\/a> for the world\u2019s largest crypto asset manager, Grayscale. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), which has been trading at a massive discount to spot BTC prices for months, is heading in the right direction as that gap diminishes. <\/p>\n According to Coinglass<\/a>, the Grayscale premium, also known as its discount, is -31.2%. It fell as low as -49% in December. <\/p>\n Related: <\/em><\/strong>Volatility Shares Trust aims for listing of leveraged Bitcoin futures ETF<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n It remains unclear if the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, but the race is now on<\/a> as a new wave of filings<\/a> has followed BlackRock\u2019s. <\/p>\n WisdomTree, for the third time, filed with the SEC to create a spot Bitcoin ETF, just hours later Invesco renewed its application for a similar product. <\/p>\n On June 25, ETF Store President Nate Geraci tweeted<\/a> his list of ETF issuers that he \u201cwould keep an eye on\u201d as he believes they will file or refile for a spot Bitcoin ETF based on past filings. Geraci named First Trust, VanEck, Global X, Fidelity, and what he called the \u201cdark horse,\u201d Schwab.<\/p>\n Magazine: <\/em><\/strong>Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n
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