The US-based Bitcoin ETFs are approaching an important milestone. They are on track to become the world's largest BTC holders, even surpassing the holdings of Bitcoin's founder, Satoshi Nakamoto.
At the same time, they are also gradually catching up to gold ETFs in terms of total net assets.
Bitcoin ETFs on the verge of surpassing Satoshi Nakamoto's BTC holdings
Since their launch in January, the US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs have grown significantly. According to cryptocurrency analyst HODL15Capital, these funds currently hold around 1.081 million Bitcoin, just slightly less than the estimated 1.1 million of Nakamoto.
Satoshi Nakamoto, the anonymous founder of Bitcoin, is believed to own around 5.68% of the total Bitcoin supply. This holding, worth over $100 billion, places Nakamoto among the wealthiest individuals in the world - if they are still alive and a single person.
However, Bloomberg's senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has pointed out that the ETFs have reached 98% of the way to surpassing Nakamoto. He predicts that if the current pace of inflows continues, this could happen around Thanksgiving.
"The US spot Bitcoin ETFs have now reached 98% of the ability to surpass Satoshi to become the world's largest holder. My forecast date is looking good for Thanksgiving. If the next 3 days are like the last 3 in terms of inflows, it's fully baked in," Balchunas said.
Data from SoSoValue shows that inflows into these ETFs have increased by around 97% in the past week, reaching $3.3 billion over the past five trading days, with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) contributing $2 billion. This surge coincides with the introduction of options trading for these products, which many believe is attracting more institutional investors.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin ETFs are also narrowing the gap with gold ETFs, which currently hold $120 billion in assets under management (AUM). According to Balchunas, the Bitcoin ETFs manage $107 billion and could surpass the gold ETFs by Christmas.
These optimistic forecasts reflect Bitcoin's outstanding performance in 2024. The leading cryptocurrency has risen by nearly 160% since January, trading near the $100,000 milestone. Additionally, its $1.91 trillion market capitalization now exceeds the value of silver and major corporations like Saudi Aramco.
However, BTC still lags behind gold, which remains the world's largest asset with a market capitalization of over $18 trillion.
