On October 4, U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw their first inflow of the month. This came after three days of outflows totaling $400 million. The timing was interesting, as it coincided with a major upgrade to Bitcoin Core, the software that powers Bitcoin.
According to data from SoSoValue, Bitwise’s Bitcoin ETF (BITB) led the way. It had a positive net flow of $15.3 million. Following closely was Fidelity’s FBTC with $13.6 million. Ark 21Shares’ ARKB and VanEck’s HODL each recorded inflows of $5.3 million. On the other hand, Grayscale’s GBTC experienced outflows of $13.9 million. Other funds, like BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and Franklin Templeton Bitcoin ETF (EZBC), didn’t see any inflows during this time. IBIT still holds the title of the leading Bitcoin ETF, boasting over $21 billion in total net inflows.
This uptick comes after a rocky start to October for Bitcoin. The price briefly dipped below $60,000 but climbed back to around $62,000 amid rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Despite this volatility, many analysts remain optimistic about Bitcoin’s future in the fourth quarter. They point to strong macroeconomic factors and increasing institutional investments as reasons for their positive outlook.
Crypto analyst Gally Sama noted, “When you look closely at Bitcoin price patterns by weeks, you’ll see that Uptober starts in the second week of October. It’s historically the strongest period of the year. We’re in week 40 now. If the pattern holds, we can expect a significant rise next week.”
On October 5, Jameson Lopp, co-founder of the self-custody solution Casa, announced the launch of Bitcoin Core version 28.0. This update brings important security enhancements and functionality improvements. It also fixes bugs and adds better privacy features for users.
This release follows a warning from Bitcoin developers last month about a serious vulnerability that affected one in six Bitcoin nodes. This flaw allowed attackers to conduct denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, potentially crashing the system by overwhelming nodes with excessive data requests.
Bitcoin Core 28.0 addresses these vulnerabilities and adds extra security measures. A key feature is support for reproducible builds. This means advanced users can compile identical binaries directly from the Bitcoin Core website, which boosts transparency and trust within the community.
If you’re a node operator upgrading to version 28.0, make sure to exit your current software and back up your files before installing the new version.