US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Become 2nd-Largest BTC Holder After Satoshi

This article is also available in Spanish.

Since their introduction in January 2024, Spot Bitcoin ETFs have been progressively gaining popularity in the United States. Issuers have been purchasing hundreds of thousands of BTC as interest in these products has grown. This trend has resulted in a significant accumulation of BTC by these issuers, led by BlackRock. Their ongoing buying activity has pushed the total BTC held by the Spot Bitcoin ETFs towards the 1 million mark.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs Now Hold 924,768 BTC

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission greenlit a total of 12 Spot Bitcoin ETFs for trading in January 2024. Fast forward eight months, and these ETFs have managed to secure over 4% of the entire Bitcoin supply. Collectively, they rank among the largest holders of BTC.

Among these, the BlackRock IBIT has emerged as one of the foremost purchasers of BTC, even outpacing Grayscale’s GBTC, which had a head start of 600,000 BTC. Currently, Grayscale possesses over 350,000 BTC, solidifying its status as a leading Bitcoin holder.

Grayscale remains in second place for total BTC held. Nevertheless, since January, the Bitcoin fund has experienced greater outflows than inflows, depleting more than half of its holdings prior to the Spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. Grayscale now holds less than 250,000 BTC after witnessing an outflow exceeding $20 billion to other Spot Bitcoin ETFs, attributed to their lower fees.

Other Spot Bitcoin ETFs like Fidelity FBTC and Ark Invest/21Shares ARKB have collectively accumulated nearly 50,000 BTC. To date, these funds have captured 924,768 BTC, bringing their total holdings tantalizingly close to the 1 million BTC milestone. In sum, the Spot Bitcoin ETFs represent 4.685% of the overall Bitcoin supply.

Top Addresses With Largest Holdings

The highest Bitcoin wallet, with the largest BTC holdings, still belongs to the Satoshi Nakamoto wallet, containing 1.1 million BTC. However, this wallet has remained inactive for an extended period, often excluded from the lists of top Bitcoin wallets due to its dormancy.

According to the BitInfoCharts website, the top spot in the Bitcoin wealth rankings is held by the Binance old wallet with 248,598 BTC, valued at over $16.3 billion. Following closely is the Bitfinex Hack Recovery wallet with 94,643 BTC, equating to $6.2 billion. The third largest is the Mt Gox Hack wallet, containing 79,957 BTC, worth $5.2 billion.

In fourth place is the wallet containing BTC confiscated from the Silk Road bust, holding 69,370 BTC and valued at $4.56 billion, while the Binance BTCB Reserve wallet has 68,200 BTC, worth $4.49 billion.