The ProShares GENIUS Cash Market ETF (IQMM) shattered all information by logging $17 billion in first-day buying and selling quantity. The ETF invests in very short-term US authorities debt, making it extraordinarily low threat and much like holding money.
This ETF is designed so establishments, together with stablecoin issuers, can use it as a secure place to retailer cash whereas incomes a small yield. Nonetheless, market construction specialists warn the staggering sum displays a large, behind-the-scenes company treasury migration slightly than a sudden wave of retail investor mania.
IQMM’s Historic Launch Redraws How Stablecoin Issuers Maintain Greenback Reserves
Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas famous that BlackRock’s extremely profitable Bitcoin fund, IBIT, solely pulled then the unprecedented $1 billion in day-one quantity. IBIT is the biggest Bitcoin fund with over $50 billion in belongings.
INSANE: The Proshares GENIUS Cash Market ETF $IQMM noticed $17b in Day One quantity yest. That’s multitudes past the all-time file for an ETF. For context $IBIT did $1b. BlackRock’s ESG ETF seeded by pensions did $2b. That is like 8x that. Must be BYOA, however nonetheless, unreal. That… pic.twitter.com/gxmuC3LOco
— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) February 20, 2026
Nonetheless, Balchunas acknowledged that IQMM’s launch is “multitudes beyond the all-time record for an ETF.”
“I was wrong about this ETF, I just figured it would be niche at best as people would use $BIL or $SHV as money market substitutes,” he wrote on the social media platform X.
In response to him, the fund seems to be a textbook instance of a “bring your own assets” technique, during which an institutional shopper pre-arranges the switch of present off-balance-sheet capital right into a newly regulated wrapper.
Initially, trade specialists assumed ProShares had secured a profitable cope with a significant stablecoin issuer, comparable to Boston-based Circle.
“Would assume ProShares cut a deal with one of the major US-based stablecoin issuers. Looking at assets, believe that would only leave Circle,” Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Administration, claimed.
It’s because IQMM will not be an ordinary cash-equivalent fund as it’s a purpose-built regulatory compliance car. It was designed particularly to satisfy the strict authorized reserve necessities established by the Guiding and Establishing Nationwide Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act.
Signed into regulation final yr, the laws mandates that home stablecoin issuers preserve one-to-one backing with extremely liquid belongings. It additionally strictly caps eligible US Treasury maturities at 93 days to forestall pressured promoting in periods of market stress.
Nonetheless, Balchunas later clarified the true, decidedly much less glamorous supply of the record-breaking influx.
“The call is coming from inside the house, literally, ProShares own funds are all now using IQMM now for their cash positions. Big time BYOA and not as exciting but arguably smart vs paying another fund co,” he added.
Nonetheless, crypto analysis agency 10X Analysis mentioned the IQMM’s file launch proves that stablecoin reserves might quickly migrate into clear buildings.
In response to the agency, ProShares’ IQMM represents an unprecedented bridge between conventional monetary markets and the digital asset financial system.
The fund permits stablecoin issuers to park their greenback reserves in a extremely liquid, clear, and closely regulated ETF wrapper, slightly than shouldering the operational burden of managing advanced, non-public portfolios.
“This is massive because it institutionalizes stablecoin backing, reduces opacity risk, and could channel hundreds of billions of dollars in digital dollar reserves directly into Treasury markets under the GENIUS framework,” the agency added.
By institutionalizing stablecoin backing, the normal US monetary system has successfully pulled crypto’s financial base onshore.
