BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund has passed the $70 billion mark faster than any other ETF in history by a long shot, according to analysts.
Bloomberg ETF specialist Eric Balchunas says in a post on the social media platform X that IBIT has surpassed the $70 billion mark five times faster than the gold-based GLD product.
“IBIT just blew through $70b and is now the fastest ETF to ever hit that mark in only 341 days, which is 5x faster than the old record held by GLD of 1,691 days…
When BlackRock filed for IBIT, the price was $30k and the stench of FTX was still in air. It’s now $110k (a return that is 7x that of the mighty S&P 500) and is now seen as legitimate for other big investors.”
According to data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham, BlackRock currently holds $76.19 billion worth of digital assets in its crypto wallets.
In his annual letter to investors, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said that US dollar supremacy can’t last forever and is already being weakened, not only due to skyrocketing debt but also the rise of digital assets and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Says Fink,
“The US has benefited from the dollar serving as the world’s reserve currency for decades.
But that’s not guaranteed to last forever. The national debt has grown at three times the pace of GDP since Times Square’s debt clock started ticking in 1989.57 This year, interest payments will surpass $952 billion— exceeding defense spending. By 2030, mandatory government spending and debt service will consume all federal revenue, creating a permanent deficit. If the US doesn’t get its debt under control, if deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like Bitcoin.
To be clear, I’m obviously not anti-digital assets (far from it; see the next section). But two things can be true at the same time: Decentralized finance is an extraordinary innovation. It makes markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent. Yet that same innovation could undermine America’s economic advantage if investors begin seeing Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar.”
Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram
Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox
Generated Image: Midjourney
Read the full article here
