4 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs among top 20 launches of all time

Four U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds are now ranked among the top 20 best ETF launches in history, as the crypto industry marks one year since the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the first spot Bitcoin ETFs.

The SEC’s approval on Jan. 10, 2024, paved the way for 11 spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs to go live on U.S. exchanges. The launch coincided with Bitcoin’s rally to a new all-time high in March 2024, crossing the $100,000 mark before undergoing a correction.

While the market has seen tremendous growth since these ETFs began trading, it’s the records they have broken that stand out a year later.

On Jan. 10, 2025, Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart shared a summary of spot BTC ETFs one year down the line.

According to Seyffart, one of the most surprising milestones is the inclusion of four spot Bitcoin ETFs in the list of the top 20 ETF launches of all time.

The ETFs in question are BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC), Ark/21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), and Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB). Notably, BlackRock’s IBIT surpassed $50 billion in assets under management in less than a year. In comparison, the asset manager’s gold ETF took nearly 20 years to cross $30 billion in AUM.

“Just how big was the first year for Bitcoin ETFs? Massive,” Seyffart noted. “Even if you inflation adjust the assets, 4 of the Bitcoin ETFs are in the top 20 US ETF launches of all time. $IBIT, $FBTC, $ARKB, and $BITB.”

IBIT tops the list of best ETF launches in history, while FBTC, ARKB, and BITB rank fourth, 16th, and 18th, respectively.

“A key takeaway of mine here is that even the two ETFs from comparatively small issuers ARK/21 Shares and Bitwise which “only” have ~$4 billion each are still in the top 20 launches of all time. That’s crazy,” the analyst added.

VanEck’s HODL ranks 99, CoinShares Valkyrie’s BRRR 162, Invesco Galaxy’s BTCO 196, Franklin Templeton’s EZBC 199 and WisdomTree’s BTCW at position 384.

According to data from SoSoValue, the total net assets in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs stood at over $106 billion as of Jan. 9, 2025, accounting for approximately 5.74% of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization.