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BlackRock pumps $1.24 billion into crypto amid market outflows
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, kicked off 2026 with massive cryptocurrency purchases, scooping up about $1.24 billion in Bitcoin and Ethereum through its spot exchange-traded funds during the year's first three trading days. These buys signal a pivotal shift after two straight months of crypto ETF outflows draining $4.57 billion from the market in November and December. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust added roughly $888 million in Bitcoin from January 2 to 6, peaking at $372.5 million on January 5. Its Ethereum ETF absorbed $348.9 million over the same stretch, with a single-day high of $197.7 million on January 6. This institutional surge steadied Bitcoin above $92,000 and pushed Ethereum past $3,200 by January 7.
BlackRock's accumulation stood out especially on January 6, when global Bitcoin ETFs saw $243 million in net outflows. The firm's iShares Bitcoin Trust bucked the trend with $228.7 million in inflows, while rivals like Fidelity's FBTC lost $312 million and Grayscale's GBTC shed $83 million. Analysts chalked broader outflows to routine portfolio rebalancing rather than waning institutional confidence, with Kronos Research's Vincent Liu calling them "post-inflow normalization." This gap underscores BlackRock's dominance in the 13-month-old spot Bitcoin ETF market, where its iShares fund boasts $62.981 billion in cumulative net inflows and $71.9 billion in total assets under management. January's performance extended a 2025 trend, growing BlackRock's combined Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings from $54.8 billion to $77.3 billion a 41 percent annual rise.
The buying spree aligns with renewed institutional interest in regulated crypto products. Banking giant Morgan Stanley filed with U.S. regulators on January 6 to launch spot ETFs for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana the first for a major U.S. bank. This follows a year when spot Bitcoin ETFs drew $21.8 billion in net inflows and Ethereum ETFs $9.8 billion, pushing combined assets to about $140 billion. U.S. crypto ETFs collectively surpassed $2 trillion in cumulative trading volume on January 2, hitting that mark in eight months versus 16 for the first trillion. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart noted at least 126 more crypto ETF applications pending at the Securities and Exchange Commission, while cautioning undercapitalized products could shutter later in 2026.
