BlackRock now holds an unheard of 60 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) across its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), with 574,118.84380 BTC recorded on the ETF’s balance sheet. Recent data from Farside Investors shows that Bitcoin ETFs have recently received a total of 188.7 million, with BlackRock alone getting $154.6 million — 81% of net inflows.
BlackRock’s aggressive accumulation of Bitcoin has placed it among the biggest institutional holders of the cryptocurrency, even surpassing MicroStrategy’s well-known holdings.
Larry Fink, the CEO, has also got market participants talking about Bitcoin’s potential by suggesting a price target as high as $700,000 if more institutions adopt it. He has been talking with a sovereign wealth fund about allocating 2% to 5% of their assets to Bitcoin, which shows that even entities that usually avoid risk are becoming interested.
While Bitcoin is still BlackRock’s main crypto investment, its $4 billion Ethereum ETF (ETHA) shows a bigger plan to spread out into digital assets. The firm is focusing on Bitcoin and Ethereum, showing that they think blockchain will become a big part of the financial world, even though there are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to regulations.
But, market analysts say, BlackRock’s huge $60 billion Bitcoin investment — that’s about 2.7% of the whole cryptocurrency supply — could totally change how money flows and how prices are set.
The IBIT ETF has been doing better than its competitors, getting steady inflows even with Bitcoin’s recent ups and downs. Fink’s optimistic view lines up with the growing interest from institutions, but there are still some doubters who say that macroeconomic challenges and regulatory scrutiny could still be major factors to watch.