BlackRock’s Bitcoin Holdings Reach 363,626 BTC, Binance in Sight

BlackRock remains steady with its Bitcoin accumulation appetite, growing its portfolio to 363,626 BTC as of Friday, September 27. The asset manager has been bullish on crypto for nearly a decade and does not show signs of stopping.

As it grows its Bitcoin holdings, BlackRock is solidifying its place among the most dominant institutional players in the crypto playing field.

BlackRock Grows Bitcoin Portfolio With 1,434 BTC Purchase

The asset manager bought 1,434 BTC valued at $94.3 million on Friday, bringing total purchases over the past four days to 5,894 Bitcoin, worth $387.68 million. This is after a September 26 purchase of 4,460 BTC worth $289 million. BlackRock now has 363,626 Bitcoin worth $23.68 billion.

“BlackRock bought another 1,434 BTC ($94.3 million)! BlackRock (IBIT) has added 5,894 BTC ($387.68 million) to its holdings in the past 3 days and now holds a total of 363,626 BTC ($23.68 billion),” Lookonchain reported.

BlackRock is the third largest Bitcoin holder, after Satoshi Nakamoto and Binance, respectively. As the firm continues to increase its holdings, it is closing in on Binance, which reportedly has around 550,000 BTC.

Read more: Who Owns the Most Bitcoin in 2024?

The traction comes as BlackRock views Bitcoin as a haven. Its head of digital assets, Robbie Mitchnick, argues that Bitcoin is fundamentally a risk-off asset. According to Mitchnick, Bitcoin is not tied to any single country’s economic health or policies. He says the scarce asset [BTC] is immune to the usual risks of currency debasement and political turmoil.

“There’s been periods where Bitcoin’s correlation with equities has spiked and there’ve been periods where it’s gone negative. Actually gold shows a lot of the same patterns where you have these temporary periods where it spikes, but long term, close to zero,” Mitchnick said.

It is worth noting that BlackRock’s newly found Bitcoin pivot marks a significant transformation, especially for the firm’s CEO, Larry Fink. He was an outspoken Bitcoin skeptic with a history of dismissing BTC as a speculative and potentially dangerous asset.

BlackRock’s IBIT Leads Spot Bitcoin ETF Market

Even as the firm aggressively buys Bitcoin, its flagship IBIT Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) is at the forefront of the spot BTC ETF market. It boasts cumulative net inflows reaching $21.42 billion as of September 27, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $9.99 billion. Like the rest of the issuers, BlackRock offers institutional investors indirect exposure to BTC via this financial instrument.

Following the landmark approval of Bitcoin ETFs in the US in January, institutional fervor for Bitcoin has increased. The cumulative total net inflow for all issuers was $18.80 billion as of Friday’s close of business.

Notably, as BlackRock’s IBIT remains the most successful spot Bitcoin ETF on metrics of inflows, it has caused custodial concerns. Investors question why Bitcoin price performance fails to reflect positive flows.

Read more: How To Trade a Bitcoin ETF: A Step-by-Step Approach.

On the other hand, some are concerned that increased institutional adoptions could threaten or erode the principles on which Bitcoin was founded. Specifically, institutional control in the crypto space shifts power back to the very entities Bitcoin aimed to bypass.