Bitcoin It rebounded on Tuesday, rising about 6% in the past 24 hours after a sharp sell-off early in the week. The rally drove activity in crypto-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs), particularly BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which was one of the day’s largest U.S. ETFs by volume.
IBIT’s trading volume on Tuesday was about $3.7 billion, surpassing Vanguard’s (VOO) S&P 500 ETF, which traded $3.28 billion, according to Barchart data. That puts BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund in a rare position alongside some of the most liquid, widely held ETFs on the market.
The surge in volume may be related to a recovery in Bitcoin prices, but comes just a day after Vanguard Group, which has long been resistant to cryptocurrencies, said it would begin allowing Bitcoin ETFs and cryptocurrency mutual funds to trade on its brokerage platform.
Although BlackRock’s Bitcoin fund is less than two years old, it has quickly become a cornerstone of the company’s product lineup. IBIT alone currently has $66.3 billion in net assets and has become the company’s most revenue-generating ETF. This is noteworthy considering BlackRock manages more than 1,400 ETFs with total assets under management of $13.4 trillion.
Cryptocurrencies were also trading higher across the board on Tuesday, with Ethereum Ripple and The gains over the past 24 hours have been around 7%. Cardano’s native token ADA leads the way with a 14% share. Chainlink’s token LINK also rose 11% on Tuesday after Grayscale launched a new ETF tied to the token on New York Stock Exchange Arca.
Tuesday’s rebound in Bitcoin prices rippled through cryptocurrency-related stocks. Strategy (MSTR), which holds more than 174,000 BTC on its balance sheet, saw its shares rise 6%. Robinhood (HOOD), a trading platform that offers crypto services in addition to stocks, rose 2%. Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk, rose 5%, and Circle (CRLC), the company behind the USDC stablecoin, rose 4%.
Coinbase (COIN) is moving in the opposite direction. The company’s shares fell 5% after a group of shareholders filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing company executives of engaging in a years-long scheme to sell billions of dollars in stock while misleading investors. The lawsuit alleges that insiders took advantage of Coinbase’s lofty valuation following its 2021 public listing to cash out at the expense of long-term shareholders.
Things are not looking so promising for Bitcoin mining stocks. Despite the overall rebound in the cryptocurrency market, most miners still posted losses on Tuesday. Shares of Iren (IREN) led the decline, down 15%, followed by Cipher Mining (CIFR), down 10%, and TeraWulf (WULF), down 7%.
