Crypto ETF issuer and asset manager BlackRock announced on Wednesday the expansion of its USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) to include five new blockchain ecosystems: Aptos, Arbitrum, Avalanche, Optimism, and Polygon. 

Initially launched on the Ethereum network in March 2024, BUIDL rapidly gained traction among investors, becoming the largest tokenized fund globally regarding assets under management (AUM) within just 40 days.

BNY Mellon To Custody BUIDL

The expansion will allow BUIDL to interact with more blockchain-based financial products and infrastructures. BlackRock aims to enhance accessibility for investors, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and digital asset firms, enabling them to leverage BUIDL within the ecosystems of their choice.

Related Reading

Carlos Domingo, CEO and co-founder of Securitize, the firm responsible for tokenizing BUIDL, emphasized the importance of this multi-chain approach in Wednesday’s press release by saying: 

Real-world asset tokenization is scaling, and we’re excited to have these blockchains added to increase the potential of the BUIDL ecosystem. With these new chains we’ll start to see more investors looking to leverage the underlying technology to increase efficiencies on all the things that until now have been hard to do.

With the addition of these blockchains, BlackRock aims to provide increased options and access for investors, allowing developers to build applications that integrate seamlessly with the BUIDL fund.

BNY Mellon, which recently received a Bitcoin and crypto custody license for institutional services, will play a key role in this initiative as the fund administrator and custodian for BUIDL. 

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Achieves Unprecedented Growth

On the crypto ETF front, BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, has reached a remarkable milestone, surpassing the $40 billion mark in assets under management (AUM) just two weeks after hitting $30 billion. 

This achievement comes in a record 211 days, shattering the previous record of 1,253 days held by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG). 

IBIT is now positioned in the top 1% of all ETFs by assets and at just 10 months old, it has outperformed all 2,800 ETFs launched in the past decade, according to ETF expert Eric Balchunas.

Balchunas further highlighted that Bitcoin ETFs collectively have crossed the $90 billion asset threshold, following a significant $6 billion surge in the past few days. 

This increase comprises $1 billion in new inflows and $5 billion in market appreciation. The growing popularity of Bitcoin ETFs indicates that they are now 72% of the way toward surpassing gold ETFs in total assets.

Related Reading

The rise in Bitcoin ETF assets has coincided with a surge in investor confidence, particularly following Donald Trump’s recent victory over Kamala Harris in the presidential elections. 

This political shift has positively influenced market sentiment, contributing to a broader uptick in cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin, in particular, has experienced a substantial rally, climbing over 24% to reach a record high of $93,000 in the past week alone.

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com 

The US spot ETF market for Bitcoin seems to be unstoppable at this point and thanks to BlackRock Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) that has triggered a major FOMO among investors. On Tuesday, the BlackRock IBIT registered a massive $3.3 billion in trading volumes, hitting its six-month high levels. Over the past two weeks, IBIT has been single-handedly leading the inflows showing that institutional FOMO has kicked in ahead of the US election results, less than a week from now.

BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Leads $870 Million Inflows

On Tuesday, October 29, the US BTC ETFs saw inflows of nearly $870 million with BlackRock’s IBIT having a lion’s share of $640 million inflows. This marks one of the largest inflows since launch, with the record set on March 12, 2024, at $1.045 billion. Given the recent excitement, a new record could be within reach.

With this, IBIT’s net inflows since inception have reached closer to $25 billion, which is more than double that of its immediate rival Fidelity’s FBTC. These massive inflows have continued amid the broader crypto market rally with the Bitcoin price approaching its all-time high levels.

Bloomberg’s ETF strategist, Eric Balchunas, highlighted the $3.3 billion in trading volumes recorded by the BlackRock Bitcoin ETF yesterday. He believes that such a volume spike is unusual as ETF activity typically surges during market downturns.

However, Balchunas suggested that the recent spike could be driven by “FOMO” (fear of missing out) due to the Bitcoin price rally, which has continued over the past few days.

The Bloomberg strategist further stated that IBIT wasn’t alone as other Bitcoin ETFs also saw a strong surge in trading volumes yesterday. Thus, he believes that this is possibly a FOMO-driven buying wave. Balchunas also added that if this is indeed a FOMO frenzy, the impact should reflect in substantial inflows in the coming days.

$IBIT traded $3.3b today, biggest number in 6mo, which is a bit odd bc btc was up 4% (typically ETF volume spikes in a downturn/crisis). Occasionally tho volume can spike if there a FOMO-ing frenzy (a la $ARKK in 2020). Given the surge in price past few days, my guess is this is… pic.twitter.com/z44ZfggHVm

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 29, 2024

Bitcoin All-Time High Soon?

Amid the 8% gains over the past week, the Bitcoin price has reached within 5% of its all-time high levels. As of press time, the BTC price is trading 1.75% up at $72,267 with a market cap of $1.429 trillion.  However, the retail FOMO in BTC hasn’t kicked yet so far despite strong inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, noted crypto analyst Miles Deutscher.

#Bitcoin is on the verge of breaking all-time highs, and retail interest is still almost non-existent.

Higher. pic.twitter.com/EH4fWnjIvG

— Miles Deutscher (@milesdeutscher) October 29, 2024

During the past two Bitcoin bull run cycles, retail buying interest played a crucial role in taking Bitcoin to all-time high levels. This shows that large investors and Bitcoin whales are currently driving the price action. Thus, once retail FOMO kicks in, we can actually see a rally to the levels of $100,000 and above.

Another major bullish indicator is the Bitcoin MVRV ratio which has surged past its 365-SMA signaling major bull rallies along with a golden cross.

While #Bitcoin $BTC at $72,000 might feel like a late entry, history suggests otherwise. The MVRV Ratio crossing over its 365-SMA has often signaled major bull rallies, and this golden cross just happened again! pic.twitter.com/Awkh0WdIOK

— Ali (@ali_charts) October 29, 2024

✓ Share:

Bhushan Akolkar

Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast with a keen understanding of financial markets. His interest in economics and finance has led him to focus on emerging Blockchain technology and cryptocurrency markets. He is committed to continuous learning and stays motivated by sharing the knowledge he acquires. In his free time, Bhushan enjoys reading thriller fiction novels and occasionally explores his culinary skills.

Disclaimer: The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.