BlackRock has named its Spot Bitcoin ETF as one of the top three investments in 2025, despite Bitcoin’s sharp fall since October. By placing IBIT (iShares Bitcoin Trustholds) at the top, along with more traditional options like the Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) and the Top 20 US Stocks ETF (TOPT), the world’s biggest asset manager is signalling its interest and confidence in a long-term investment plan in crypto.
The move came as a surprise to many investors, although BlackRock has shown consistent interest in Bitcoin for the past few years. BlackRock seeking SEC permission for the Global Allocation Fund and Strategic Income Opportunities (to invest in Bitcoin futures) in 2021, and its partnership with Coinbase in 2022, were clear indicators that the investment giant was getting serious about Bitcoin.
By launching IBIT in 2024 and placing Bitcoin along with cash and stock, they contributed to its transformation from a speculative investment choice to a mainstream asset class for traditional portfolios. BlackRock hoarded Bitcoins in 2024 and 2025 under the strength of a huge Netflow of $62.5 billion that continued even during Bitcoin’s decline.
IBIT now holds 775,352 BTC, which accounts for 3.87% of the total Bitcoin share. Moreover, it attracted an inflow of $25 billion in 2025, driving it into 6th position among all the ETFs by inflows. The president of ETF Store opined that “It’s easy to frame this as BlackRock simply promoting its highest-revenue product, but I see it more as the firm doubling down on its conviction that bitcoin belongs in diversified portfolios.” Several other experts also read the move as a clear indicator of firms’ shift towards treating crypto as a solid long-term asset, including Bloomberg’s expert analyst Eric Balchunas, who said that the flow potential of such ETFs could be much higher in the years to come.
Why the Future of Bitcoin ETFs Is Becoming Less Uncertain
While the Spot Bitcoin ETF brought in $25 billion this year, BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust ETF has a net flow of $12 billion in 2025. The highlight here is that both ETH and BTC saw a decline this year, yet the ETFs of the same continue to bring in billions of dollars of investment.
Besides BlackRock and other corporate treasuries that hold IBTC in billions, nations and sovereign wealth funds are also investing in IBTC. Notably, the Harvard Management Company owns around 6.8 million IBTC shares, valued at nearly $443 million, making IBIT its largest public holding.
The 2025 filings of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala (one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the UAE) revealed that they hold $408-567 million worth of IBIT. Reading that, along with the fact that Brevan Howard Capital Management ($2.3 billion in IBIT) and Goldman Sachs ($1.4 billion in IBIT) hold billions in IBIT, suggests that the biggest players are on the same page regarding Bitcoin ETFs’ future.
Another important development regarding the same is how the State of Texas purchased IBIT as a part of its new economic policy to expand the state-backed Bitcoin reserve. The Texas Comptroller’s office bought $5 million worth of IBIT shares this November, making Texas one of the first US states to invest in BTC ( indirectly via IBIT).
With large hedge funds, institutional investors, and even the US state government holding IBIT shares, it won’t be a stretch to say that IBIT would see unprecedented inflows in the coming years, especially in years where Bitcoin performs well. This reverberates with what Eric Balchunas (expert ETF Analyst) says about the future of bitcoin ETF: If the ETF can do $25 billion in a bad year, imagine the flow potential in a good year.
