Bitcoin Tops Crypto Priority for Blackrock Clients as IBIT Holdings Reach 243K BTC

Blackrock’s head of digital assets has revealed that bitcoin is the overwhelming favorite cryptocurrency for the asset management firm’s clients. “And then a little bit Ethereum, and very little everything else,” he added. Blackrock’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF), the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has amassed approximately 243K bitcoins since its launch.

Blackrock’s Head of Digital Assets Discusses Client Demand for Bitcoin

Blackrock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, talked about bitcoin and demand for his firm’s spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), at Bitcoin Investor Day in New York City on Friday.
During a fireside chat, Mitchnick revealed that bitcoin is the cryptocurrency of most interest to Blackrock’s clients, stating:

For our clients, bitcoin is overwhelmingly the number one priority. And then a little bit Ethereum, and very little everything else.

IBIT continues to grow its BTC holdings since its launch in early January. The fund’s latest data shows holdings of approximately 242,830 BTC, representing a notional value of about $15.8 billion. According to Bitmex Research, IBIT added 297.5 BTC to its holdings on Friday, bringing the spot bitcoin ETF’s total holdings as of March 22 to more than 243K BTC.
During an interview with Yahoo Finance at the event, Mitchnick described Blackrock’s approach to bitcoin and crypto more broadly: “This has been a multi-year journey for us, starting back really 2016 kind of time frame … you’ve seen our strategy kind of evolve with that to take us to the point where we are today.”
Noting that Blackrock’s clients are “at all stages of the journey,” he explained that some clients “already hold bitcoin, sometimes positions in multiple crypto assets.” He added: “They’re looking for our perspectives on market dynamics and what we’re seeing in terms of portfolio construction and other considerations.” On the other hand, some clients are new to crypto, he further shared, adding that they “want to understand kind of the fundamentals and the technology and how it works. And so we have those conversations across the spectrum.”

When asked about what Blackrock is hearing from clients and what they are interested in, Mitchnick replied: “What we’re seeing is that investors are resoundingly choosing IBIT for bitcoin access. That’s a combination of investors who are new to bitcoin and those who maybe held exposure in a different form historically.” He emphasized:

What our clients, I think, are most focused on is trying to understand risks, upside, downside, thoughts about portfolio construction, how to think about the risk in a larger diversified portfolio context. So those are the kinds of discussions we’re having a lot.

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