BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF Nears $100 Billion, Becomes Top Holder

In October 2025, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is approaching $100 billion in assets under management — a scale reached just 21 months after its launch in January 2024. This makes it one of the fastest-growing ETFs in U.S. history, and among a small group of funds to ever reach this milestone.

As of the latest filing, IBIT holds over 798,000 bitcoin. That figure surpasses MicroStrategy’s balance sheet and may even exceed the estimated holdings attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto. While these assets are held on behalf of thousands of investors — not BlackRock directly — the fund has become the largest known holder of bitcoin by volume.

There are now over 40 bitcoin-focused ETFs in the market. BlackRock’s is bigger than all of them combined. Its scale and fee structure (25 basis points annually) generate roughly $250 million in annual revenue, making it one of the firm’s most profitable funds. For comparison, BlackRock’s largest index ETFs typically charge between 3 and 9 basis points.

For many investors, IBIT offers a familiar, regulated path to bitcoin exposure within the existing financial system. However, it’s important to note that owning shares of an ETF is not the same as owning bitcoin itself. Investors do not hold private keys or have access to the underlying asset. They hold a claim, managed and custodially stored by intermediaries — in this case, through Coinbase as the custodian.

The popularity of IBIT reflects growing institutional demand for bitcoin, but also highlights the trade-offs between accessibility and sovereignty. While ETFs like IBIT expand the asset’s reach, they don’t offer the trust-minimized, self-sovereign qualities that native bitcoin ownership enables.