BlackRock, the world’s biggest crypto asset manager, now has more Bitcoin it its spot ETF than the combined reserves of the biggest crypto giants; Coinbase and Binance. This is a paradigm shift in the crypto landscape, which so far, has been ruled by a decentralized community of non-institutional traders. Now, the institutional capital is flexing its muscles and dominating its presence as majority shareholders. This event highlights how institutions, through the power of their huge capital reserves can share the crypto world in general and the Bitcoin ecosystem in particular.
Story of The Great Accumulation
The analytics shared by the popular cryptocurrency analytics platform CryptoQuant, presents a dramatic rise of BlackRock. For many years, almost since the mainstream inception of Bitcoin, two major exchanges, Binance and Coinbase have reigned as the biggest pools of the crypto asset. The turn of events started occurring with the launch of the spot ETFs in the U.S. in early 2025.
The analytics platform show, through a graph, how there’s been a vertical rise in the share of Bitcoin held by ETFs. Among the ETF holders, BlackRock’s fund name IBIT is leading the race with the biggest accumulation. The graph shows that the rise of BlackRock’s IBIT has crossed the reserve line of both Binance and Coinbase.
On the other hand, the Bitcoin reserves of both Binance and Coinbase are either stagnant or even declining over time. The important point to note here is that the change in dynamics hasn’t been a gradual process, but a sudden, rapid re-ordering of the market’s power structure. This means that the money matters; institutions have the capital power, and with the right decisions at the right time, institutions can change the course of game without taking much time.
The Effect of ETFs on Cryptocurrency Exchanges
The launch of ETS has certainly affected the popular cryptocurrency exchanges and the impact on the market is evident. The acquiring of Bitcoin by BlackRock and other ETF issuers has moved the reserves from the open market exchanges to cold storages and into the custody of large-scale institutional investors. Unlike the high liquidity of Bitcoin in the exchanges, where the coin is available for active trading, the ETF-held bitcoin is mostly locked as long-term investment.
The ETF effect has created a supply shock in the market with the continuous shrinking of tradable bitcoin on the exchanges. Moreover, the demand of ETF is rising which will continue effecting the market and the exchanges in particular. The market action is a clear indication that institutions are at the driving seat, controlling the supply and demand of the world’s biggest crypto asset.
Conclusion:
Blackrock now holds more Bitcoin reserves than those of Binance and Coinbase, an event that is more than just a news. While this marks an important event in the financial world where Bitcoin has integrated into mainstream finance through ETFs, it also gives an idea on who now control the liquidity of the crypto asset in the mainstream market as well as in the DeFi world. The balance of power in the Crypto world has seen a dramatic shift in the past few months, and it seems like the power now lies with the institutions rather than the crypto-native platforms.
