By Vicky Ge Huang

A new wave of exchange-traded funds holding bitcoin attracted about $37 billion of total net flows in their first year of trading, fueling a monster rally in the cryptocurrency along the way.

Regulators greenlit the launch of the funds known as spot bitcoin ETFs exactly a year ago, paving the way for everyday investors to purchase bitcoin in their brokerage accounts as easily as stocks. Assets in the dozen funds have swelled to about $110 billion, thanks to a surge in bitcoin prices in the past year.

BlackRock and Fidelity have emerged as early winners of the bitcoin ETF race. With $53 billion in assets, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust is the world's largest bitcoin fund and the most successful ETF launch in history based on inflows. At Fidelity, the Wise Origin Bitcoin ETF has swelled to become the company's largest ETF with about $20 billion in assets.

The bitcoin funds have struggled in recent days, with investors yanking about $580 million from them on Wednesday. Bitcoin, which started the year by retaking the key milestone of $100,000 it hit in early December, has also fallen in recent sessions. The largest cryptocurrency by market value recently traded below $95,000.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2025 14:20 ET (19:20 GMT)

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