BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin ETF Achieves Unprecedented 700K BTC Holdings Milestone

BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has surpassed 700,000 BTC in assets under management just a year and a half after its debut in January 2024 as more investors seek exposure to the world’s largest and oldest cryptocurrency.

IBIT Hits New Milestone

The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) ETF had already accumulated 698,919 BTC as of July 3, according to the fund’s page. IBIT’s 1,510 BTC in net inflows on July 7 was enough to tip it over the 700,000 BTC milestone after the Independence Day holiday in the United States. That makes its assets under management worth around $75.5 billion based on current prices, per CoinGecko data.

“New milestone, iShares Bitcoin ETF now holds over 700,000 BTC. *700,000* Did this in 18 months. Ridiculous,” Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, observed in an X post.

IBIT has notably become the most actively traded spot Bitcoin ETF since its launch, now holding over 3% of Bitcoin’s total capped supply of 21 million. As pointed out by Bloomberg’s senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, the iShares BTC fund is now the third highest revenue-generating ETF for the world’s largest asset manager out of 1,197 funds and is just $9 billion away from being the first.

How Close Is BlackRock’s ETF To Overtaking Satoshi?

The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs also crossed the $50 billion cumulative inflow milestone on Monday, with BlackRock’s IBIT again leading those total combined inflows.

With 700K BTC in possession, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust has overtaken the nearly 600,000 Bitcoins held by Michael Saylor’s Strategy, which started purchases in 2020. Strategy is currently the world’s largest corporate Bitcoin holder.

Since the historic introduction of the 11 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs has become one of the most successful ETF launches of all time. They have so far amassed 1.25 million BTC, usurping the Bitcoin stockpile supposedly owned by the legendary pseudonymous Bitcoin creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

According to Balchunas, BlackRock’s IBIT alone is now 62% of the way to exceeding Satoshi as the top holder of Bitcoin in the world.