Milestone moment! BlackRock Bitcoin ETF exceeds gold in size for the first time!

BlackRock Inc.’s fast-growing iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has now surpassed one of the largest gold funds in the old-school investing category, another milestone following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.

As of last Friday, bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had about $34.3 billion in assets under management, according to FactSet data. That puts it ahead of one of the largest gold ETFs, iShares Gold Trust (IAU), which manages just under $33 billion. However, IBIT is still about $30 billion short of the largest gold ETF on the market, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD).

IBIT attracted about $1 billion in inflows in the past week and a total of $27 billion since its launch in January, according to FactSet.

These asset figures do not yet reflect the recent cryptocurrency rally so far this weekend, with Bitcoin breaking through the $80,000 mark and continuing to soar on Monday, hitting an all-time high of $89,599 in early trading on Tuesday, the largest coin since the U.S. election on November 5, jumping about 32% and pushing the overall value of the cryptocurrency market beyond its peak in the new crown entertainment registration and delivery 66 era as traders bet on a boom after the Trump administration takes office.

Trump has vowed to enact more cryptocurrency-friendly rules as his Republican Party tightens control of Congress to push his agenda. Other promises include creating a U.S. strategic reserve of bitcoin and promoting domestic bitcoin mining. The shift has spurred speculative buying of both large and small tokens, pushing the value of digital assets to about $3.1 trillion, according to CoinGecko.

Bitcoin approaches $90,000, entering overbought territory

Bitcoin has more than doubled so far in 2024, also helped by strong demand for certain U.S. ETFs and the Federal Reserve's rate cuts. Bitcoin's gains have outpaced those of global stocks and investments such as gold.

In the options market, investors have been betting that Bitcoin will top $100,000 as early as the end of this year, according to derivatives exchange Deribit. Meanwhile, software company MicroStrategy Inc. is the largest publicly traded company holding Bitcoin outside of an ETF.