Crypto ETF Inflows Hint at Growing Institutional Demand
Crypto investment products have attracted a significant amount of money in September, with about $4.1 billion flowing into US-based funds. According to CoinShares, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) accounted for over 53% of these inflows.
However, the source notes that it is difficult to determine how much of this demand comes from institutional investors. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, suggests that many institutional investors use IBIT for the Bitcoin basis trade, which involves buying shares of a spot Bitcoin ETF while shorting Bitcoin futures.
The basis trade has an attractive yield of 6%, and month to date IBIT has seen over 53% of the $4.1 billion inflows. This suggests that positive sentiment is broad-based across both institutional and retail investors, according to Butterfill.