Why BlackRock Is Investing $680 Million in Bitcoin This Week

BlackRock, the issuer of the IBIT ETF, acquired more than $680 million in Bitcoin in the last two days. This comes as IBIT, one of the most successful ETFs, is spiking in price.

BlackRock’s executives have praised Bitcoin, and it seems to play a key role in the firm’s future strategies.

BlackRock’s Massive Purchases

According to data from Lookonchain, ETF issuer BlackRock has been buying immense quantities of Bitcoin (BTC). The first of these purchases took place on October 15, purchasing over $294 million worth of the asset. BlackRock followed this up with an even larger purchase the next day, at over $390 million.

BlackRock’s continued enthusiasm for BTC should come as little surprise due to the stupendous success of its IBIT Bitcoin ETF. This month, Eric Balchunas declared IBIT one of the top ETF performers of the decade, with over $25 billion AUM. The Bitcoin ETF market, in general, has been surging this week, but IBIT was the clear leader.

Several members of BlackRock’s leadership have also praised Bitcoin this October. BlackRock’s US Head of Thematics and Active ETFs, Jay Jacobs, predicted a $30 trillion BTC market in the coming years. Its CEO, Larry Fink, also called Bitcoin an “independent asset class” in an earnings call, promising future growth in the firm’s strategy.

“We will continue to pioneer new products to make investing easier and more affordable,” Fink stated.

BlackRock has already been building an impressive stockpile of Bitcoin, rivaling Binance’s. Essentially, because IBIT is a spot ETF, BlackRock will need to hold a corresponding amount of BTC if it wishes to keep minting its product.

On Thursday, IBIT received an inflow of $309 million, the highest amongst all the spot Bitcoin ETFs. According to data from SoSoValue, so far this week, it has recorded $1.07 billion in inflows.