BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF Worth $48 Billion

Olumide Adesina•Tuesday, December 3, 2024•1 min read

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) now holds more than 500,000 BTC as investors look for exposure to the asset. The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF enables investors to access Bitcoin, eliminating the “operational, tax, and custody complexities of holding Bitcoin directly.

The ETF’s Bitcoin holdings totaled 500,380, or approximately $47.5 billion.

Bitcoin is a “unique diversifier” that can “protect against fiscal, monetary, and geopolitical risks,” according to a “white paper” published by BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world with over $10 trillion under management.

Three prominent figures from BlackRock, Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets, Samara Cohen, chief investment officer for ETFs and index investments, and Russell Brownback, head of global macro positioning for fixed income, wrote the report, which demonstrates that bitcoin is the first “truly open-access monetary system” due to its decentralized nature. “.

Additionally, Bitcoin “does not depend on any centralized system” and poses “no traditional counterparty risk,” according to BlackRock’s report. The global asset manager said, “it is an asset largely detached from certain critical macroeconomic risk factors, including banking system crises, sovereign debt crises, currency devaluation, geopolitical disruptions, and other country-specific political and economic risks.”.

The IBIT ETF has more Bitcoin holdings than the biggest corporate Bitcoin holder, MicroStrategy.

Data from BitcoinTreasuries, showed MicroStrategy continues to hold the most corporate Bitcoin holdings. . MicroStrategy disclosed it had sold 3. 7 million shares of its Class A common stock this month, using the proceeds to buy 15,400 Bitcoin for nearly $1.05 billion, raising the total to 402,100.

MARA Holdings recently increased the amount of Bitcoin in its assets. According to data from BitcoinTreasuries, MARA Holdings holds 34,794 BTC, making it the second-largest corporate Bitcoin holder.

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Olumide Adesina

Financial Market Writer

Olumide Adesina is a French-born Nigerian financial writer. He tracks, analyzes, and reports changes in financial markets with over 15 years of working experience in investment trading.