First Mover Americas: BTC Consolidates Around $68K as IBIT Overtakes GBTC

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Crypto markets were muted during the European morning, with bitcoin appearing to consolidate around $68,000 following its rally to $70,000 at the start of the week. BTC is priced at just over $67,800 at the time of writing, around 1% less than 24 hours ago. The broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), has dropped about 0.65% during that time. ETH meanwhile is trading just above $3,800, down a little over 2% in the last 24 hours as the market awaits further news on the listing of spot ether ETFs in the U.S. following last week’s SEC approval of some filings by prospective providers.

BlackRock’s spot bitcoin ETF has leapfrogged Grayscale’s to become the largest of its kind after a $102 million inflow on Tuesday. BlackRock’s IBIT holds nearly $20 billion worth of bitcoin, compared with GBTC’s $19.7 billion. GBTC saw $105 million in outflows on Tuesday. Buying activity for IBIT ramped up recently amid bullish sentiment for bitcoin and the broader crypto market. The bulls gained momentum after the ether ETF filings approvals and renewed support for crypto among U.S. political parties. That helped mark a sudden shift in IBIT, which recorded low or even zero inflows before May 15 and saw its first-ever day of outflows in April, leading to bearish sentiment.

Riot Platforms has the capacity to consolidate the bitcoin mining sector, broker Bernstein said in a report. Riot is trying to acquire rival miner Bitfarms, after buying a 9.25% stake in the company. “The bitcoin mining business is becoming tougher for smaller players, with limited capital to ramp up on the global hash power race,” Bernstein analysts Gautam Chhugani and Mahika Sapra wrote. Bernstein says it expects the U.S. bitcoin mining industry to consolidate to about five large players who will control substantial capacity. There are more than 20 publicly listed miners at present. The largest bitcoin miners should ramp up their M&A plans to maintain “long-term strategic relevance,” Bernstein noted.

– Shauyra Malwa