2024 was another record-breaking year for the U.S. ETF industry. It included 747 new fund launches — topping the number for 2023 by more than 200 funds — and more than $1 trillion worth of inflows. Interestingly, fund closures numbered less than 190. That suggests that, given the frenetic pace of launches during the year, we could see a resurgence on that score this year.
But the majority of the most successful launches — four out of the five new ETFs with the most assets — of 2024 were spot crypto funds. That’s largely because the year got started with the launch of a range of spot bitcoin ETFs.
All the Big Names Involved
Pent-up demand for spot bitcoin ETFs had been simmering for over a decade. That demand began when Gemini initiated the first filing in 2013. And that demand saw some outlet when the first futures-based bitcoin ETFs launched in 2021. But investors still had no way to access direct exposure to bitcoin via an ETF wrapper. As a result, the opening days of 2024 were a bit of a frenzy. As the funds hit the market, with 10 spot bitcoin ETFs debuting in one day.
All the big names were involved, with most issuers trying to compete on price. And more than a few waived the entire expense ratio for the time being.
However, when the dust settled, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT ) was far and away the leader in the space. It closed out the year with $52.1 billion in assets. It also saw the third highest inflows of any ETF in 2024. at $37.2 billion.
The Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC ) launched at the same time. It’s now in 14th place in terms of assets gathered in 2024. Fidelity’s product currently has an expense ratio of zero due to a waiver the issuer placed on the product. It pulled in $11.8 billion during the year. It currently has nearly $19 billion in assets under management.
The Trend Should Continue in 2025
The third most successful fund among the new launches tracks not physical bitcoin, but spot ether. The iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA ), which launched in late July, pulled in $3.5 billion. It outranks the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB ), which gathered $2.5 billion during the year.
The lone outlier among the five most successful new launches is the Invesco MSCI North America Climate ETF (KLMN). It’s the only ETF in the top five that does not offer direct exposure to a cryptocurrency. Rather, it tracks an index that screens its universe of U.S. and Canadian stocks to select stocks meeting specific environmental and climate standards. The fund launched in mid-December. It was seeded with $2.4 billion in assets from Finnish Pension issuer Varma, which sponsored another fund with Invesco earlier in the year. Although ESG strategies are struggling in the U.S., they remain popular in Europe.
The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF Trust (BITB ), another spot bitcoin ETF, follows, rounding out the top five. It has $2.4 billion in flows.
Cryptocurrency was a major theme in 2024. And there’s nothing to suggest that trend won’t continue in 2025 as a crypto-friendly regime takes the reins in the U.S.
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