Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg, recently tweeted about BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT. He responded to user @rafaelnobel’s claim that IBIT would surpass the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), stating that it is unlikely to do so.
Balchunas on IBIT’s prospects
An hour ago, Balchunas noted that VOO has surpassed SPY in asset value, holding $631,876 million compared to SPY’s $630,394 million.
When @rafaelnobel suggested IBIT would be next, Balchunas tempered expectations. He acknowledged that IBIT did achieve $50 billion in Bitcoin assets within its first year—much quicker than VOO, which took six years to reach that level. Still, he emphasized that IBIT would need significantly more adoption and a break from its correlation with stock market trends.
> IBIT did reach $50b in first year (it took VOO six years to hit that mark), so def one to watch but it would take a ton more adoption (flows) AND you probably need a break in correlation with stocks. But BTC tends to go down (worse) when stocks decline, which will make it hard… https://t.co/CCud9vzomE
> — Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 18, 2025
Despite reaching impressive early numbers, Balchunas advised against holding one’s breath over IBIT’s potential. As of February 17, 2025, BlackRock’s IBIT holds 587,050 Bitcoin.
Saylor halts Bitcoin buying
In another tweet today, Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), announced that the company did not sell any class A common stock last week under its at-the-market equity offering program. No stock sale meant no additional Bitcoin purchases. Currently, Strategy holds 478,740 Bitcoins, purchased for around $31.1 billion at approximately $65,033 per Bitcoin.
> Last week, @Strategy did not sell any shares of class A common stock under its at-the-market equity offering program, and did not purchase any bitcoin. As of 2/17/2025, we hodl 478,740 $BTC acquired for ~$31.1 billion at ~$65,033 per bitcoin. $MSTR https://t.co/gDVOokFY8p
> — Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) February 18, 2025
Saylor has recently rebranded MicroStrategy to Strategy, emphasizing the company’s commitment to its Bitcoin-focused strategy initiated in August 2020. Earlier this week, he shared 21 Bitcoin rules, including essential principles for Bitcoin investors: “Only buy Bitcoin with the money you can’t afford to lose” and “You do not sell your Bitcoin.”
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