BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Breaks the 700,000 BTC Barrier

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has broken the 700,000 $BTC barrier, according to Glassnode data, just a year and a half after its debut in January 2024. That makes its assets under management worth just under $75.6 billion at today's values, per CoinGecko data.

The Bitcoin exchange-traded fund is now the third most profitable fund by revenue at the world's largest asset manager, outstripping both the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM).

These funds both debuted some 25 years ago, in 2000. Though both funds have higher overall assets under management, they do charge lower management fees to investors—hence the Bitcoin ETF’s rapid rise up the rankings.

The news follows a strong fortnight for inflows to BlackRock's IBIT, which according to data from Farside Investors, attracted $52.8 million over the past two weeks, significantly outperforming all other U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs. Its closest competitor in terms of size, Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) attracted just $12.3 million.

What it means for traders

Rajiv Sawhney, Head of International Portfolio Management at Wave Digital Assets International, told Decrypt he thinks this milestone is likely to have an impact far beyond the ETF industry.

Sawhney said that as "the investment base buying the ETF is more typical of buy-and-hold investors," it's dampening the volatility of $BTC compared to past cycles.

He pointed out that "implied and realized volatility has continually witnessed incremental lows in recent months," citing the popularity of ETFs like BlackRock’s as one likely cause.

"If you are a market maker or arbitrage hedge fund that thrives on volatility, this is not necessarily a good thing."

Sawhney expects this dynamic to continue into the summer, and for some traders to pivot to speculating on crypto-heavy equities like Japanese investment firm Metaplanet or stablecoin giant Circle.