The Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024, which was a groundbreaking move at the time. The Bitcoin ETFs continue to see huge inflows months after their launch.
Here's a look back at the multi-year battle to get Bitcoin ETFs approved and how much investors could have made buying Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) when the first ETF was filed.
What Happened: Investors celebrated the approval of Bitcoin ETFs earlier this year, with the SEC approving the first applications for many ETFs.
The approval opened the door for more investors, including institutional investors and retirement accounts, to get exposure to the leading cryptocurrency through the launched ETFs.
Months after launch, Bitcoin ETFs are seeing strong inflows, which could be thanks in part to new optimism for the cryptocurrency sector after the 2024 election. Bitcoin hit new all-time highs after the 2024 election and recently surpassed the $100,000 milestone for the first time.
Last week, Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of $2.5 billion, bringing the year-to-date total to more than $36 billion.
Here's a look at the top Bitcoin ETFs today by assets under management, as reported by ETFdb.
- iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ:IBIT): $53.9 billion
- Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (NYSE:GBTC): $21.5 billion
- Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (BATS:FBTC): $21.0 billion
- ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (BATS:ARKB): $4.9 billion
- Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (NYSE:BITB): $4.1 billion
- Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust (NYSE:BTC): $4.0 billion
- ProShares Bitcoin ETF (NYSE:BITO): $2.6 billion
- Volatility Shares Trust 2x Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BATS:BITX): $2.0 billion
Before the approved Bitcoin ETFs were filed, or the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust was launched in September 2013, there was an S-1 filed for a Bitcoin ETF with the SEC.
On July 1, 2013, Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss filed the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust as a planned Bitcoin ETF. The Winklevoss twins saw their initial filing and a second attempt rejected in 2018.
Cameron Winklevoss commented on the status of Bitcoin ETFs on the 10-year anniversary of the filing, which happened several months ago, saying: "The SEC’s refusal to approve these products for a decade has been a complete and utter disaster for U.S. investors and demonstrates how the SEC is a failed regulator."
Winklevoss accused the SEC of helping to push investors into FTX, which eventually went bankrupt and was “one of the largest financial frauds in modern history.”
The Gemini co-founder wished luck to all the companies fighting to bring Bitcoin ETFs to market.
In January, ahead of the Bitcoin ETFs' approval, Cameron Winklevoss took to Twitter to share the optimism of Bitcoin ETFs.
“Today is 3,845 days in the making. Happy Bitcoin ETF Approval Day!” Winklevoss tweeted.
Here’s a look back at investing in Bitcoin when the Winklevoss brothers filed for the first ETF launch.
Investing $1,000 in BTC: Bitcoin hit all-time highs of nearly $69,000 in November 2021 before breaking out to new highs this year, and has traded above $10,000 for many years. It may be surprising to some that Bitcoin traded below $100 during parts of 2012 and that year marked the first time the leading cryptocurrency hit the $1,000 level.
On July 1, 2013, Bitcoin traded for around $90.80. A $1,000 investment in Bitcoin could have purchased 11.0132 BTC at the time.
Based on a price of $106,478.56 at the time of publication, the $1,000 investment would be worth $1,172,669.68 today. This represents a hypothetical return of over 117,000% over the last 11 years.
Over the past decade, Bitcoin has delivered stronger returns than leading stocks and has outpaced the overall stock market.
For Comparison
While Bitcoin may not beat the market and leading stocks by the same amounts over the next decade, there is increased optimism that the new White House administration could continue to send the leading cryptocurrency higher.
Read Next:
This article was previously published by Benzinga and has been updated.
Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
