Spot Bitcoin ETFs rank among largest commodity ETFs by assets held

Several recently launched spot Bitcoin ETFs now rank alongside the largest commodity ETFs in terms of assets under management (AUM).

Combining VettaETF’s list of commodity ETFs with its list of blockchain ETFs produces the following results:

That data indicates that Grayscale’s GBTC has $20.5 billion in AUM, making it the third largest commodity ETF after two gold ETFs.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s IBIT is the seventh largest ETF on the list, with $2.8 billion in AUM. Fidelity’s FBTC is the ninth largest, with $2.5 billion in AUM.

Two other spot Bitcoin ETFs are not shown in the above chart but rank among the top 25 commodity ETFs by assets under management. ARK 21Shares’s ARKB fund has $665 million in AUM and ranks at #25. Bitwise’s BITB fund has $641 million in AUM and ranks at position #26.

BTC ETFs are generally considered commodities ETFs

Though VettaETF does not include spot Bitcoin ETFs within its list of commodity ETFs, asset managers generally consider this the case.

BlackRock, for example, labels IBIT a commodity ETF on its website. Similarly, Ark Invest refers to ARKB as an Indexed Commodity ETF. Grayscale, meanwhile, has called GBTC the second-largest commodity-based ETF — a statement made before its current status as the third-largest ETF of that type.

However, this is not universal: Bitwise and Fidelity do not appear to label their products as commodity ETFs. Most asset managers also acknowledge in a disclaimer that their fund is not registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (which partially affects a fund’s engagement in commodities trading) and is not a commodity pool under the Commodity Exchange Act.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs gained approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January. SEC chair Gary Gensler referred to the funds as “ETPs holding [a] non-security commodity, Bitcoin” in his approval statement.

The post Spot Bitcoin ETFs rank among largest commodity ETFs by assets held appeared first on CryptoSlate.