ETF Inflows Surge as Investors Flock to Secure Their Bitcoin
The recent hack of Coldcard wallets has led to a surge in investment for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The attack, which started draining millions of dollars in Bitcoin daily since last week, has resulted in over $130 million being lost. In response, investors have thrown cash at top Wall Street-managed ETFs, with BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) receiving the majority of new investment.
According to data from Farside Investors, major U.S. funds managed by BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Morgan Stanley and others have received a total of $626 million in fresh cash following news of the hack on Friday.
Eric Balchunas, senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, suggested that investors may be seeking the security of established financial institutions, saying 'Who are you gonna trust to not screw up the security of your Bitcoin (or get it back if some scumbag does mess with it): a 5-man boutique in Canada or this guy and his 25,000-employee, $15T by-the-book empire?'
The ETFs currently manage a total of $77.8 billion in assets, according to Coinglass data.