BlackRock’s (BLK) spot bitcoin [BTC] exchange-traded fund (ETF) hit the $1 billion assets under management mark on Wednesday, becoming the first of the recent cohort of bitcoin ETF providers to hit the milestone.

The asset manager's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) started trading on Jan.12.

“We are excited to see IBIT reach this milestone in its first week, reflecting strong investor demand,” Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock said via an email. “This is just the beginning. We have a long-term commitment focused on providing investors access to an iShares quality ETF.”

IBIT’s holdings consist of 99% bitcoin, and nearly $60,000 in fiat, data shows. The fund held 25,067 token per an updated on Thursday.

IBIT closed Wednesday trading at $24.41 and trades at a slight premium of 0.42% relative to spot bitcoin. The fund has recorded an average daily trading volume of 14 million shares so far, the data shows.

Bitcoin ETF BlackRock Bitcoin ETF

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

Ian Allison

Ian Allison is a senior reporter at CoinDesk, focused on institutional and enterprise adoption of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Prior to that, he covered fintech for the International Business Times in London and Newsweek online. He won the State Street Data and Innovation journalist of the year award in 2017, and was runner up the following year. He also earned CoinDesk an honourable mention in the 2020 SABEW Best in Business awards. His November 2022 FTX scoop, which brought down the exchange and its boss Sam Bankman-Fried, won a Polk award, Loeb award and New York Press Club award. Ian graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He holds ETH.