Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States recorded a remarkable $35.23 billion in net inflows in 2024, significantly exceeding early industry projections.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) led the market with $37.23 billion in inflows, followed by Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) with $12.17 billion, and ARK’s 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) with $2.60 billion.

A Regulatory Turning Point

In January, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot bitcoin ETFs – a moment that will likely be viewed as a watershed in financial history. For years, the SEC resisted bitcoin ETFs, citing concerns over market manipulation and investor protections. The approval marked a decisive shift in the agency’s stance, sending billions of dollars in liquidity into the market and boosting confidence in bitcoin as a legitimate asset class. Their launch was the most successful in the history of ETFs and now hold more assets under management than gold ETFs.

These ETFs have provided an open door for new sources of liquidity to enter into the bitcoin markets, since certain pools of capital cannot be converted to physical bitcoin, but can purchase regulated financial products like ETFs. Perhaps even more crucially, bitcoin ETFs have normalized bitcoin as an investment. Pension funds, retirement accounts, and institutional portfolios – and the financial advisors that manage them – now have a way to achieve bitcoin exposure with the same ease as stocks, bonds, and other instruments.

Inspired by MicroStrategy’s leadership, a handful of other companies followed suit in 2024, including Semler Scientific, Metaplanet, and others. In fact, in just the past few days, new filings with the SEC reveal several new bitcoin ETFs on the horizon:

• Bitwise filed for something it calls a “Bitcoin Standard Corporations” ETF, which would contain stock shares of companies that hold bitcoin in their treasuries.

• Strive Asset Management, a firm closely associated with Vivek Ramaswamy, filed for a “bitcoin bond” ETF, which would aim to offer exposure to MicroStrategy’s convertible bonds.

• Following a similar approach, the REX Shares Bitcoin Corporate Treasury Convertible Bond ETF would invest in convertible bonds issued by companies that hold bitcoin on their balance sheets.

• ProShares filed for a hedged ETF that would “strategically pair long positions in stocks or gold with short positions on the U.S. dollar, complemented by long positions in Bitcoin through futures contracts.”