After less than a year of trading for its Bitcoin ETF, Wall Street titan BlackRock has seen its Bitcoin holdings increase to nearly $23.7 billion. The milestone comes after the $9 trillion asset manager recently acquired another $35 million worth of Bitcoin and $6.4 million of Ethereum earlier this week.
With the latest acquisition, the asset manager's Ethereum reserves now stand at 350,000 ETH, worth around $989 million, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
BlackRock's BTC holdings are managed primarily through its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which allows institutional investors direct exposure to Bitcoin. BlackRock's holdings now represent approximately 1.70% of the total available Bitcoin.
BlackRock's recent acquisitions have set it apart from other major asset managers, particularly Grayscale, which currently holds around 258,671 BTC valued at $16.45 billion.
However, Grayscale continues to hold a stronger position in Ethereum, with over 2.104 million ETH valued at roughly $5.45 billion—more than five times that of BlackRock's current Ethereum holdings.
On Sept. 25, BlackRock saw a surge of $184.4 million in inflows into its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the highest single-day inflow of any fund during the month, according to Farside data.
This influx came shortly after the Federal Reserve's decision to reduce interest rates by 50 basis points—a move that has been a focal point of the financial markets throughout 2024, potentially influencing crypto investment and sentiment.
While BlackRock's increased crypto investments signal growing institutional interest, some observers have raised questions about the physical custody of these assets.
Rumors have circulated online alleging that Coinbase, the exchange serving as a custodian for BlackRock and several other Bitcoin ETF issuers, is not acquiring the actual Bitcoin requested by the funds but instead issuing “paper Bitcoin” or IOUs.
Baldilocks here.
Not sure what this is all about TBH. All ETF mints and burns we process are ultimately settled onchain. Institutional clients have trade financing and OTC options before trades are settled onchain. This is the norm for all our institutional clients. All funds…
— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 14, 2024
To address these concerns, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to Twitter to clarify that all transactions involving the ETF are settled on the blockchain.
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas further confirmed that BlackRock maintains its own blockchain node and consolidates its Bitcoin balances nightly, which are then reported to Coinbase Prime.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.