Well, look at this. BlackRock, that giant of finance, is stacking Bitcoin like nobody’s business. Their spot Bitcoin ETF, the one everyone talks about, is getting close to holding 3% of all the Bitcoin that will ever exist. Think about that for a second. Three percent. It’s a big chunk, even if it seems small next to the trillions BlackRock manages overall. Still, it’s a lot of Bitcoin.
- BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF is rapidly accumulating Bitcoin, nearing 3% of the total supply, demonstrating significant institutional interest.
- The fund experienced a surge in inflows, with a notable $643 million influx on one Wednesday, highlighting growing investor confidence.
- BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, has suggested that Bitcoin and other digital assets could become more prominent if the U.S. doesn’t address its debt and deficits.
The folks over at Arkham Intelligence noticed this too. They track these things, you know. They put out a note saying BlackRock now holds 2.77% of the whole supply. And get this, just this past week, they added another $1.2 billion worth of the stuff. That’s some serious buying power showing up.
BlackRock is accumulating. They now hold 2.77% of the entire Bitcoin supply.
https://x.com/arkham/status/1915711478449008900?s=46
Now, it’s important to remember, BlackRock isn’t just buying this Bitcoin for itself. They manage money for clients. So, it’s their customers who are making this bet on Bitcoin, using BlackRock’s fund as the way in. It’s like they’re pooling their money together to buy a really big pie, and BlackRock is just holding the pie tin.
Wednesday was a big day for the fund. It saw $643 million flow in. That was its best day for inflows in 13 weeks, which is quite a while. As of Friday, the fund held over 582,000 Bitcoin. At recent prices, that’s worth almost $56 billion. That’s a number that makes you pause, isn’t it?
They didn’t stop in the U.S. either. BlackRock also launched a similar product in Europe last month. Seems they want to make it easy for people across the pond to get their hands on Bitcoin too, without actually having to hold the keys themselves. It’s all about making it accessible, I suppose.
Even with all that Bitcoin, sitting there, nearly 3% of the total supply, it’s still just a tiny piece of BlackRock’s whole pie. They manage something like $12 trillion in assets. So, $56 billion, while huge to you and me, is just a sliver in their world. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn’t it?
Michael Saylor, the guy who runs a company that also holds a ton of Bitcoin, made a bold call this week. He thinks BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF will be the biggest exchange-traded fund in the world within ten years. That’s a pretty big prediction. His own company holds around 538,000 Bitcoin, worth about $51.4 billion. So, he knows a thing or two about holding a lot of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin itself was trading around $95,401.74 on Friday morning. Prices bounce around, of course, but that’s where it sat as the week wrapped up.
Jay Jacobs, who heads up equity ETFs for BlackRock in the U.S., had some thoughts on why Bitcoin is doing well. He spoke on CNBC and said that all the uncertainty floating around the global economy is actually good for Bitcoin. It’s like gold, he said. When things feel shaky, people look for assets that don’t move the same way everything else does.
He figures if the world keeps feeling uncertain, things like gold and Bitcoin should keep climbing. People want something different, something that might act as a safe place when traditional markets feel wobbly. It makes sense, doesn’t it? When the usual rules feel like they’re bending, you look for something else.
The world economy has felt pretty jumpy for a while now. You can trace some of that back to when President Trump started putting tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on major trading partners like China. That sort of thing makes markets nervous, and nervousness can send people looking for alternatives.
BlackRock CEO’s Warning
Speaking of nervousness and alternatives, BlackRock’s top boss, Larry Fink, had some strong words recently. Less than a month ago, he suggested the U.S. dollar could lose its spot as the world’s main reserve currency. He thinks digital assets like Bitcoin could step up if the U.S. doesn’t get its massive debt under control and stop its deficits (spending more than it takes in) from getting bigger and bigger.
He made it clear he’s not against digital assets. “I’m obviously not anti-digital assets,” he said. But he pointed out that two things can be true at once. Decentralized finance (DeFi, basically finance without banks or central powers) is a great idea. It makes markets faster, cheaper, and more open. But that same idea could hurt America’s economic edge if investors start thinking Bitcoin is a safer bet than the dollar. It’s a bit of a paradox, isn’t it?
Fink wrote in a letter to investors that the U.S. government will pay over $952 billion just in interest on its debt this year. That’s more than they’ll spend on defense. He warned that if things don’t change, by 2030, the government will be spending all its money just on required stuff and paying off debt. That would mean a permanent deficit, always spending more than they have. It’s a serious picture he painted.