Spot Bitcoin ETF
Regulated funds holding real Bitcoin, tradable in any brokerage account since January 2024 — the pipe connecting Wall Street to crypto.
A spot Bitcoin ETF holds actual Bitcoin and trades on stock exchanges — since January 2024, US investors buy Bitcoin exposure like any share, with BlackRock’s IBIT growing into one of history’s fastest-scaling funds. Spot Ether ETFs followed in mid-2024.
ETFs re-plumbed the market: fund flows became the loudest single demand signal, visible daily. The flip side arrived in 2026 — June alone saw roughly $4.5B of net outflows, pressuring price from a channel that didn’t exist in previous cycles. Versus holding coins directly: simpler taxes and no key management, but management fees, market-hours-only trading and no ability to withdraw the underlying asset. Our guide compares the trade-offs in depth.