Asset management giant BlackRock says it is seeing growing interest in bitcoin ETFs from institutional players such as sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.
This comes after a hugely successful debut for BlackRock's bitcoin ETF, iShares IBIT, which was approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year.
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BREAKING: Blackrock says “sovereign funds, pension funds and endowments” are reaching twitter.com/hashtag/bitcoin?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#bitcoin
Institutions are coming in a big way pic.twitter.com/GLcpMJYkYz
– bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1785993887024087247?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>May 2, 2024
The US bitcoin ETF spot market has soared in 2024, surpassing $200 billion in volume since its launch. Recent 13F filings have shown major institutional buyers making small allocations to these newly regulated bitcoin products.
Now, despite a recent cooldown and fund outflows from bitcoin ETFs amid market volatility, BlackRock remains bullish on long-term institutional demand. The firm's head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said in an interview that he expects sovereign wealth funds, pensions and endowments to begin trading spot bitcoin ETFs in the coming months.
Mitchnick stated that BlackRock has been in educational conversations with these institutions about bitcoin for years. The asset manager is unfazed even after iShares IBIT recorded its first outflows this week after 71 consecutive days of inflows.
Mitchnick believes the current lull will be followed by a new wave of buying by deep-pocketed institutional players. As more giants like BlackRock accumulate billions of dollars worth of bitcoin reserves, bitcoin is validated as an investable asset class.
The ETF talks also come as BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has softened his once-critical stance on bitcoin.
With iShares IBIT rapidly accumulating over $17 billion in bitcoin, BlackRock has demonstrated the huge latent demand for regulated investment vehicles in bitcoin.
Despite short-term ETF outflows amid volatility, its long-term prospects remain very optimistic.
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As Mitchnick stated, “Many of these interested companies—whether we're talking about pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, insurers, other asset managers, family offices—are having ongoing conversations about diligence and research, and we're playing a role from a perspective.” educational.”
Ultimately, pragmatic and educated institutional interest bodes well for the continued growth of the bitcoin ETF market.
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