Bitcoin Funds Gain $1 Billion Amid Historic BTC Price Rally

The money keeps rolling in as Bitcoin returns to the upper atmosphere.

Big investors have pumped money into crypto-focused funds, bringing assets under management to their highest level since early 2022, a Monday report by CoinShares said—before the price of Bitcoin broke $50,000 for the first time since December 2021. 

Large amounts of cash have hit the crypto space following the approval of the new spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Last week, CoinShares reports, $1.1 billion entered the funds focusing on digital assets. Assets under management now stand at $59 billion.

Most of the money is focused on the new spot BTC ETFs, CoinShares said. The European fund manager tracks how much money flows into institutional funds, such as Grayscale and BlackRock’s iShares ETF. 

On January 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved 10 spot BTC ETFs after a decade of denials. Such investment vehicles give traditional investors exposure to the cryptocurrency space. 

Following their approval last month, the price of BTC took a hit as Grayscale, which previously operated like a closed-end fund to a spot Bitcoin ETF, began to sell BTC to its custodian, Coinbase. 

But the selling has slowed, and money has continued to flow into the funds, causing the price of BTC to edge higher. 

CoinShares added that although 98% of inflows were focused on BTC, money also hit funds that gave investors exposure to Ethereum (ETH) and Cardano (ADA). 

BTC rose above $50,000 per coin Monday morning Eastern Standard Time, and reached $50,256, according to CoinGecko. It has since fallen again and is currently trading for $49,862. 

BTC touched its all-time high of $69,044 back in November 2021. 

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.