Thursday’s ETF launches witnessed notable milestones, including record-breaking activity with the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust achieving the largest-ever first-day turnover for an ETF, reaching $2.3 billion. It’s worth noting that Grayscale’s product, with a trust structure since 2013, had a substantial head start with nearly $27 billion in assets.

Furthermore, even newly launched ETFs, not converted from existing funds, experienced historic trading volumes. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, denoted as IBIT, recorded $1 billion changing hands, marking the fifth-largest ETF launch on record. However, it’s crucial to acknowledge that trading volume alone doesn’t provide a comprehensive overview of the buying or selling nature of investor inflows.

Challenges Ahead

The long-term success of the ETFs hinges on investors’ seamless accessibility, which remains a current challenge. Vanguard Group Inc.’s brokerage arm has opted not to facilitate trading for these ETFs, and Merrill Edge, operated by Bank of America Corp., is still evaluating its stance on offering this service. In contrast, some platforms are more enthusiastic about embracing these new investment products. Robinhood Markets Inc.’s CEO, Vlad Tenev, expressed intentions to list the funds on their platform as quickly as possible.

Despite the enthusiasm, uncertainties linger. The timing of major distribution platforms incorporating spot Bitcoin products into their offerings remains unclear, mirroring the uncertainty typical of any new ETF.

Fee competition, common in the $8 trillion ETF arena, intensified even before the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs. Notably, issuers like BlackRock, Ark Investment Management, and Invesco preemptively reduced their costs leading up to the regulatory approval on Wednesday. The simultaneous launch of all these products on the same day, eliminating potential first-mover advantages, contributed to an intensified race-to-the-bottom on fees. To stand out, several firms resorted to fee waivers, offering their ETFs for free during the initial six or twelve months.

The Bitcoin price continues to flirt around $46,000 as it loses the early week momentum.