Bitcoin & Ethereum ETFs

The full timeline of the spot ETF approvals, the issuers and tickers that matter, and why these products reshaped the crypto market.

14 min · advanced · part of Institutional Crypto: The Big Money Arrives

The Single Most Important Product Wave in Crypto History

On the morning of January 11, 2024, eleven spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds began trading simultaneously on U.S. exchanges. The Securities and Exchange Commission had voted 3-2 the previous evening to approve the products, with Chairman Gary Gensler joining the two Republican commissioners despite his well-documented skepticism. After more than a decade of rejected applications dating back to the Winklevoss twins' first filing in 2013, the regulatory dam had finally broken. Six months later, on July 23, 2024, spot Ethereum ETFs followed. The SEC had approved their 19b-4 forms on May 23, 2024, and after the customary registration-statement review the products went live with a similar simultaneous launch. The numbers since then explain why these approvals are the single most consequential product wave in crypto history. Cumulative spot Bitcoin ETF inflows reached $58 billion by April 2026, with total assets under management climbing to $102 billion across the eleven funds. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust alone passed $62 billion AUM, holding more than 800,000 BTC for clients — roughly 49% of the entire spot BTC ETF market by AUM. This lesson walks through what these products actually are, who issues them, how they have performed, and why their existence matters even if you never plan to buy one yourself.

Also in this lesson

What an ETF Is and Why It Matters Here
The Eleven Spot Bitcoin ETF Issuers
The Spot Ethereum ETFs
Inflow Patterns and What They Reveal
Why ETFs Matter Beyond the AUM Numbers
For Deeper Reading

Key terms

Spot Bitcoin ETF: An exchange-traded fund that holds actual Bitcoin (custodied by a qualified custodian) and issues shares that trade on stock exchanges. Eleven launched simultaneously in the U.S. on January 11, 2024.
Spot Ethereum ETF: The Ethereum equivalent of a spot Bitcoin ETF, holding actual Ether. U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs launched July 23, 2024 after 19b-4 form approvals on May 23, 2024.
Authorized participant: A large broker-dealer approved by an ETF issuer to create new shares (by delivering underlying assets to the trust) or redeem shares (for the underlying assets), keeping ETF share price aligned with NAV.
Net asset value (NAV): The per-share value of an ETF's underlying assets at a given point in time. Spot crypto ETFs use create-redeem mechanisms to keep market price closely tracking NAV.
Expense ratio: The annual management fee charged by an ETF, expressed as a percentage of assets. Spot Bitcoin ETFs converged toward 0.20-0.25% within eighteen months of launch.
Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC): A pre-existing Bitcoin trust that converted to ETF status on January 11, 2024 alongside the new spot launches, entering with roughly $28B in legacy assets but a 1.50% expense ratio.
iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT): BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF, launched January 11, 2024. The largest crypto ETF globally, with approximately $62B AUM and 800,000+ BTC held as of April 2026.
iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA): BlackRock's spot Ethereum ETF, launched July 23, 2024. Reached $10B AUM in approximately one year, making it the third-fastest ETF in history to that milestone.
Roll cost: The cost incurred when a futures-based fund replaces expiring contracts with later-dated ones. Roll costs historically created multi-percentage-point annual drag for futures Bitcoin ETFs versus spot.
Larry Fink: CEO of BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager. Publicly endorsed Bitcoin as "digital gold" in January 2024 and predicted "tokenization of every financial asset" at Davos 2024.

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Educational only — not financial advice.