Spot bitcoin ETFs, on the market for less than a year, are on the cusp of overtaking gold exchange-traded funds in terms of assets held as investors bet billions on bitcoin’s surging price.
The 36 spot bitcoin ETFs tracked by etf.com hold around $120.5 billion while gold ETFs hold $125.7 billion, as of market close on Dec. 17.
Investors have poured $60 billion into spot bitcoin ETFs since their Jan. 11 debut, with huge flows following the Nov. 5 election of crypto-friendly Donald Trump. Bitcoin itself has more than doubled this year, pushing the values of those funds higher.
At the same time, more than $1 billion has been pulled from gold ETFs this year, even as the prices of those funds have gained. For example, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) has risen 28% so far this year, while $824 million has been pulled from the fund. That fund, which began trading in 2004, is bigger than any of the bitcoin ETFs.
Still, the growth rate of the largest spot bitcoin ETF far outpaces that of gold. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with $54.8 billion in assets, has pulled in $42.5 billion while more than doubling in price.
Bitcoin and other crypto ETFs are in their infancy, and as currencies, thousands of years younger than gold. Ethereum ETFs began trading in June after their approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission and analysts expect that under a crypto-friendly Trump administration that takes office next month, more coins, from Solana to XRP, will get packaged into ETFs.
According to a tweet late Tuesday from ETF Store President Nate Geraci that cited Bloomberg analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart, crypto ETFs assets may top those of precious metals next year. Balchunas earlier this year predicted that spot bitcoin funds will surpass the assets under management in gold funds in the next two years.
