The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has recorded massive outflows since the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved its conversion and listing as a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). This has led to a significant plunge in its Bitcoin (BTC) stash, and from the look of things, the withdrawals are not slowing down.
According to data shared by Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, GBTC’s BTC holdings fell by 15% in the past seven trading days.
GBTC’s Bitcoin Stash Declines 15%
A deeper on-chain analysis by Lookonchain revealed that Grayscale’s ETF has lost more than 95,600 BTC since January 11, when it went live on national securities exchanges.
Some of the highest outflows were seen on January 16, 18, 22, 23, and 24, with the fund recording withdrawals of 13,793 BTC, 14,301 BTC, 14,292 BTC, 15,986 BTC, and 13,179 BTC, respectively. The lowest outflow was recorded on the day the ETF went live, with 2,083 BTC being offloaded.
While GBTC’s BTC stash is plunging, that of the other eight ETFs is rising. Since their launch, the products have increased their holding by more than 110,000 BTC. As GBTC offloaded around 13,179 BTC yesterday, the others added 8,251 BTC to their stash, with Fidelity’s FBTC recording the highest increase of 4,023 BTC.
CryptoQuant’s founder expressed concern about the GBTC outflow trend continuing till mid-March and reducing the ETF’s BTC stash to zero, asking, “What’s their plan?”
GBTC Sell-off to Affect BTC
At the beginning of the year, GBTC’s initial stash of roughly 619,162 BTC was valued at approximately $25 billion. With the exchange-traded product having suffered almost $4 billion of outflows, around $21 billion of its shares remain to be liquidated.
Crypto market analysts have predicted that BTC’s price would likely remain stagnant or plunge until the $21 billion liquidation is complete due to the selling pressure from the process. BTC has already fallen under $40,000, losing roughly 20% of its value since it jumped above $49,000 following the SEC’s ETF approval.
However, Galaxy Digital founder Mike Novogratz countered the view, insisting that investors would eventually shift their focus to alternative ETFs, leading to a rally in bitcoin’s price.
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