The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is now trading between $16 and $18 billion worth of Bitcoin each day. This makes the fund, which is regulated by financial authorities, a major competitor to the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges globally.
New data from Kaiko shows that traditional financial institutions are rapidly moving funds away from crypto-focused platforms, happening much faster than expected.
A Regulated Giant Takes on Crypto Exchanges
IBIT now trades more than twice the daily volume of Coinbase’s direct market, exceeding $6 to $8 billion.
This number is also getting closer to the level of trading activity seen on Binance, which has historically been the standard for measuring how easily crypto can be bought and sold worldwide.
This trend indicates that traditional financial products with regulatory oversight are now strong competitors to standard cryptocurrency exchanges. The rapid growth of the IBIT ETF, which began trading in January 2024, is particularly noteworthy.
BlackRock’s fund commands roughly 70% market share by volume among U.S. spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs.
This strong position has become even more pronounced as institutions increasingly invest through publicly traded products instead of directly accessing exchanges.
Q1 2026 Tested ETF Conviction
While trading in IBIT increased significantly, overall ETF investment trends were more complex in the first three months of the year.
As a researcher tracking these funds, I observed that Spot Bitcoin ETFs experienced net outflows of $496.5 million in the first quarter. The majority of this occurred in January and February, with $1.8 billion leaving the ETFs during those two months.
U.S. Bitcoin ETFs experienced about $496 million in net outflows during the first quarter of 2026, making it the second-worst quarter since they became available. January and February saw significant selling, with $1.61 billion and $207 million leaving the ETFs respectively, coinciding with a drop in Bitcoin’s price.
— BitGo (@BitGo) April 2, 2026
Bitcoin experienced a significant drop in the first three months of 2026, losing 23.8% of its value – the largest decline for a first quarter since 2018. This decrease was made worse by instability in the Middle East and the Federal Reserve’s careful approach to economic policy, leading to substantial selling in January and February.
Data from SoSoValue reveals that spot Bitcoin ETFs saw a significant turnaround in March, attracting $1.32 billion in new investments. This ended a period of net outflows that began in October 2025, and represented the first monthly increase in inflows for these ETFs in 2026.
U.S. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a small net inflow of $8.99 million on April 2nd. Most of this came from Fidelity’s FBTC ETF, which brought in $7.29 million.
Spot Ethereum ETFs experienced a net outflow of $71.17 million. BlackRock’s ETHA fund saw the biggest single-day decrease, with $46.66 million withdrawn.
What Comes Next for ETF Flows
The big increase in trading volume for IBIT stands out when compared to the mixed results seen in the rest of the market, and it makes you wonder why.
- Trading activity does not always equal fresh capital entering the market.
- High volumes can also reflect hedging, rebalancing, or short-term positioning.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs had a weak first quarter, marking their second-worst performance since they began trading. They experienced outflows totaling nearly $1.15 billion, only slightly better than the outflows seen in the fourth quarter of 2025.
It’s unclear if April will continue the positive trend from March, or if it will follow the slower growth seen earlier this year. This will likely depend on overall economic conditions and whether the price of Bitcoin remains stable.
As a crypto investor, it’s really interesting to see the iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) trading volumes now comparable to those on traditional crypto exchanges. It just shows how much the lines are blurring between traditional finance and the crypto world – it feels like they’re becoming more and more integrated.
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2026-04-03 11:19