BlackRock took 83 cents of every dollar: the bitcoin ETF surge is one fund's week

The four sessions ending August 20 brought in about $1.61 billion ^[5], which is roughly 78% of everything US spot bitcoin ETFs have collected this month ^[1]. IBIT's $1.09 billion of that run ^[7] works out to about 53% of the $2.07 billion August total that decrypt.co, citing SoSoValue, calls the best month of 2026 ^[6][2]. The record belongs to one fund's week more than to the category.

Thursday was also the narrow one. After IBIT's $502.99 million ^[2], $103.30 million was left for the other eleven products ^[4]. Fidelity's FBTC, the next largest taker at $64.74 million ^[4], collected about 13 cents for every dollar IBIT did ^[5]. On Wednesday IBIT's share was 55% and none of the twelve funds finished negative ^[3]; a day later the total was larger and VanEck's HODL was losing money ^[4]. Earlier in August the same pattern held, with roughly 80% of a $853.5 million five-day haul arriving through IBIT ^[8].

The liquidation makes the arithmetic concrete. Hashdex's DEFI charged 0.25%, exactly what IBIT charges, on $14.7 million against IBIT's $47 billion ^[13], an asset base about 3,200 times smaller at the same price ^[8]. That fee on IBIT's book is worth roughly $117.5 million a year ^[7]. On DEFI's stated assets it would be about $36,750 ^[6], and the roughly $26,000 the fund actually threw off ^[13] implies average assets nearer $10 million over the year ^[6]. Same sticker, incompatible businesses.

Worth separating from all of this: the flow print did not cause the price. Decrypt traces the move to the Treasury's decision to at least double long-end bond buybacks, then a squeeze that liquidated $3 billion in shorts ^[17]. Bitcoin traded near $77,000 on Friday, up about 24% on the week and still some 38% below the October 2025 high above $126,000 ^[15]. The chart has not turned either: the death cross has held since November 16, 2025, and with the 50-day at $63,976 the price needs roughly $5,000 more for a golden cross ^[16].

Across assets the money did broaden. Ether funds took almost $221 million ^[10], XRP went from $2.35 million to $13 million and Solana from $2.10 million to $15 million ^[11], narrowing the bitcoin-to-XRP intake ratio from about 220 to one to about 47 to one ^[9]. Inside bitcoin, none of that breadth reached the small products.