Milestone moment! BlackRock Bitcoin ETF surpasses gold for the first time!

BlackRock's fast-growing iShares Bitcoin Trust ( IBIT ) has now surpassed one of the largest gold funds in the traditional investment category, another milestone following President-elect Donald Trump's victory.

As of Friday, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had approximately $34.3 billion in assets under management, according to FactSet data. This puts them ahead of the largest gold ETF, the iShares Gold Trust (IAU), which has just under $33 billion in assets under management. However, the iShares Gold Trust still lags behind the largest gold ETF on the market, the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), by about $30 billion.

IBIT attracted about $1 billion in inflows over the past week, bringing total inflows to $27 billion since its launch in January, according to FactSet.

These asset values do not yet reflect the recent cryptocurrency surge that began this weekend. Bitcoin continued its surge on Monday, breaking through the $80,000 mark and hitting a new all-time high of $89,599 in early trading on Tuesday. This was Bitcoin's biggest gain since the November 5th US presidential election, a roughly 32% increase, and pushed the value of the entire cryptocurrency market past a 66-year high as traders bet on a boom under Trump.

As Republicans strengthen their control of Congress to advance their agenda, President Trump has vowed to enact more cryptocurrency-friendly regulations. Other promises include establishing a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and promoting domestic Bitcoin mining. These changes have spurred speculative buying of both large and small-denomination coins, driving the value of digital assets to approximately $3.1 trillion, according to Coingecko.

Bitcoin approaches $90,000, entering overbought territory

Driven by strong demand for some U.S. ETFs and interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, the value of Bitcoin has more than doubled so far in 2024. Its gains have outpaced investments such as global stocks and gold.

In the options market, investors are betting Bitcoin will surpass $100,000 as early as the end of this year, according to derivatives exchange Deribit, while software company MicroStrategy is the largest publicly traded company holding Bitcoin outside of an ETF.