BlackRock is signaling that Bitcoin ETFs are no longer a niche bet — they’re a core part of its 2025 playbook. In a recent investor update, the asset manager listed its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) as one of its three biggest investment themes for the year, alongside an ETF that tracks Treasury bills and another tied to the “Magnificent 7” U.S. tech giants (Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla). That positioning underscores how mainstream spot-Bitcoin products have become for large institutions. Fund flows tell the story. IBIT has pulled in more than $25 billion of net inflows so far in 2025 — enough to rank it sixth among all ETFs this year, trailing only broad index funds — even though the fund has posted a negative return in 2025 amid Bitcoin’s roughly 30% slide from an October high. Since launch, IBIT has accumulated about $62.5 billion in inflows, adding this year’s $25 billion to roughly $37 billion brought in during 2024, according to Farside Investors. Its intake is more than five times that of its nearest rival, Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC). Market observers see the flows as a vote of confidence. Nate Geraci, president of NovaDius Wealth Management, said BlackRock’s elevation of IBIT shows the firm isn’t rattled by Bitcoin’s pullback. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted that if IBIT can attract $25 billion in a “bad year,” the potential in a stronger market could be much larger. BlackRock is also broadening its crypto product lineup. In September it filed for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, a strategy that would sell covered calls on Bitcoin futures to harvest option premiums and generate yield. On the Ethereum side, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) has drawn more than $9.1 billion this year, taking its total to nearly $12.7 billion. The firm also filed in November to launch an iShares Staked Ethereum ETF — a complementary product to ETHA — after initially choosing not to include staking in ETHA. These moves come as the SEC has taken a more permissive stance that has made it easier for asset managers to experiment with new crypto ETF structures. Still, BlackRock has largely steered clear of the recent wave of altcoin ETFs that other managers have rolled out, like those for Litecoin, Solana and XRP. Bottom line: BlackRock’s public embrace of IBIT as a core theme, plus its continued launches and filings around Bitcoin and Ethereum strategies, underscore how institutional ETF demand is reshaping the crypto ecosystem — even through volatile stretches for spot prices. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news

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