IBIT Among Most-Traded ETFs as Bitcoin Surges; Mining Stocks Sink

Bitcoin BTC$91,861.40 bounced back on Tuesday, gaining about 6% over the last 24 hours after a sharp sell-off to start the week. The rebound helped drive heavy activity in crypto-related exchange-traded funds (ETFs), especially BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which was among the most-traded ETFs in the U.S. for the day.

IBIT saw around $3.7 billion in trading volume Tuesday, surpassing the S&P 500 ETF from Vanguard (VOO), which recorded $3.28 billion, according to data from Barchart. That puts BlackRock’s bitcoin fund in rare company, alongside some of the most liquid and widely held ETFs in the market.

The spike in volume may be tied to bitcoin’s price recovery, but it also came a day after Vanguard, which had long been resistant to crypto, said it would begin allowing bitcoin ETFs and crypto mutual funds to trade on its brokerage platform.

BlackRock’s bitcoin funds have quickly become a cornerstone of the firm’s product lineup, despite launching less than two years ago. IBIT alone now holds $66.3 billion in net assets and has become the firm’s top revenue-generating ETF. That’s notable considering BlackRock manages over 1,400 ETFs and has $13.4 trillion in total assets under management.

Cryptos across the board also traded higher on Tuesday, with ether ETH$3,012.97, XRP and DOGE$0.1464 all gaining around 7% over the past 24 hours. Cardano’s native token, ADA, led the race with 14%. Chainlink’s token, LINK, was also 11% higher after Grayscale debuted a new ETF tied to the token on NYSE Arca on Tuesday.

The bounce in bitcoin prices Tuesday rippled through crypto-related stocks. Shares of Strategy (MSTR), which holds more than 174,000 BTC on its balance sheet, rose 6%. Trading platform Robinhood (HOOD), which offers crypto services alongside stocks, gained 2%. Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk, climbed 5%, and Circle (CRLC), the firm behind the USDC stablecoin, added 4%.

Coinbase (COIN) moved in the opposite direction. Its shares fell 5% after a group of shareholders filed a lawsuit Monday accusing company executives of engaging in a yearslong scheme to unload billions of dollars in stock while misleading investors. The suit claims insiders took advantage of inflated valuations following Coinbase’s 2021 public listing to cash out at the expense of long-term shareholders.

The picture in bitcoin mining stocks looked less rosy. Despite the broader crypto market’s rebound, most miners traded in the red on Tuesday. Shares of Iren (IREN) led the declines with a 15% drop, followed by Cipher Mining (CIFR), which fell 10%, and TeraWulf (WULF), down 7%.