Bitcoin ETF ‘flows turned positive for the year’: BNY’s global head of ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs are once again gaining ground as all the flow metrics tracked by Bloomberg turn positive for the first time in months, according to Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas.

“Every single rolling period we track is now positive, haven’t seen that in months,” Balchunas said in an X post on Thursday. 

It was a point echoed by Ben Slavin, the global head of ETFs at BNY Asset Servicing, which services 80% of the crypto ETF market. 

“Flows have turned positive for the year,” Slavin told The Block in an interview. “That’s modestly so. But they’re in the green, not in the red.”

The cumulative one-day total for all 12 spot bitcoin funds is over $335 million, as of Thursday morning, while monthly flows topped $2.1 billion. Year-to-date and three-month flows are around $1.8 billion, representing the extended period of outflows seen at the beginning of the year. 

BlackRock’s IBIT fund, the largest spot bitcoin ETF by valuation, alone represents $246 million of the past single-day inflows and $1.9 billion over the past month. Though most of the funds are also in the green, outside of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which recorded $16 million in one-day outflows and $960 million year-to-date. 

Notably, the simmering conflict in Iran and looming prospect of higher inflation sparked significant outflows throughout March, with a particular uptick towards the end of the month.

The Block’s data shows that, in general, bitcoin ETF volumes have been muted compared to last year.

Indeed, total spot bitcoin ETF assets under management at about $125 billion have failed to regain the all-time high above $162 billion set in October 2025 when BTC was trading above $120,000. 

Slavin noted that crypto ETF traders are somewhat unique in their willingness to hold in the face of drawdowns. 

“Granted, there were some outflows, but they were modest compared to the significant inflows,” Slavin said. “We didn’t see the rush to the exits by retail or other investors in ETFs like maybe you would see in other risk assets when the market turns incredibly sour.”

To some extent, Slavin said this could be explained by the crypto market eventually stabilizing.

After Bitcoin fell from above $126,000 at its high in late October, it was trading within a range of $85,000 to $95,000 through late January, when it fell again to start trading sideways. BTC, however, is once again trending up, according to The Block’s price chart. 

But another explanation has to do with the supposed raison d’être of bitcoin ETFs. “It’s more of a structural play,” Slavin said. “They’re using them in asset allocation models, buy and hold strategies, not just tactical trading tools.”

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