BlackRock Crypto Asset Holdings Down $5 Billion as Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Fall

BlackRock’s spot digital asset-focused funds generated net inflows for a fifth consecutive quarter, but the value of those assets tumbled by 9% as the price of Bitcoin and Ethereum slumped, the company said in its latest earnings release.

As of March 31, the world’s largest asset manager held $50.3 billion worth in ETF digital assets, about $5 billion less than in the previous quarter, according to the release.

Still, among asset managers, BlackRock remained the leader in inflows with the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) adding $2.7 billion and $548 million in inflows, respectively, during the quarter. The combined $3.1 billion represents about 3% of net flows into BlackRock’s products in Q1. BlackRock currently has 463 products listed on the U.S. stock market, according to Stock Analysis.

As of Friday, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF had nearly three times the AUM of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF, totalling $45 billion and $15.2 billion, respectively, according to crypto data provider CoinGlass. BlackRock’s spot Ethereum ETF had an AUM of $1.8 billion, less than the Grayscale Ethereum Trust ETF’s $3.46 billion footprint, although the latter is a conversion from an existing fund and has shed $4.1 billion since its ETF debut. 

Still, investors had less of an appetite for BlackRock’s crypto products in the first quarter amid a largely risk-off environment. Over the past 12 months, BlackRock’s crypto ETFs generated $30 billion worth of net inflows, averaging around $7.5 billion per quarter. IBIT has added about $39 billion in net inflows since its debut in January 2024. 

The price of Bitcoin fell 12% in the first quarter, representing the asset’s worst performance since the second quarter of last year. Ethereum’s price meanwhile collapsed 45%,its biggest plunge since Q2 2022), but BlackRock’s crypto ETFs still generated inflows.

BlackRock, which first tapped Coinbase as a custodian for its crypto ETFs, recently turned to Anchorage Digital. BlackRock disclosed in filings earlier this week that it would now lean on the digital assets trust bank as an additional option for safeguarding digital assets.

Edited by James Rubin