- The world’s largest asset manager will be weighing some of its more adventurous clients’ portfolios towards Bitcoin.
- The move could shore up some of the bad news weighing Bitcoin down.
BlackRock, the largest global asset manager, announced today it would be adding allocations of its iShares Bitcoin Trust exchange-traded fund, or IBIT, to a small number of its clients’ model portfolios.
Within BlackRock’s model portfolio product, what’s called “target allocation portfolios that allow for alternatives” will now be weighted 1-2% towards IBIT, a company spokesperson told DL News.
That number is directly in line with a recommendation made by BlackRock last year on what percentage of Bitcoin investors should hold in their own portfolios.
These portfolios are a small fraction of the total under BlackRock’s management, according to a company spokesperson.
BlackRock has $11.6 trillion in total assets under management. Given that footprint, the move — even if only towards a small fraction of its client base — could spur increased flows towards the world’s highest-value cryptocurrency. Even if only a fraction of investors take advantage of the new product offering, billions may flow into Bitcoin.
“The addition of IBIT to these portfolios as a diversifier [is] in line with the investment objectives of this model,” a BlackRock spokesperson tells DL News, adding the affected portfolios “are designed for investors with a higher risk budget and growth target.”
The IBIT exchange-traded fund, which launched in January 2024, generated historic inflows through its debut year, reaching $50 billion within 11 months of its debut; it currently stands at $48 billion in net assets.
Speaking to the Financial Times in December, BlackRock Chief Financial Officer Martin Small told the publication: “I’ve never seen anything like it in my career for something to go from 0 to $50bn in basically six months.”
The allocation announcement, first broken by Bloomberg, came amid a halt in Bitcoin’s decline.
Earlier in the day Bitcoin had reached a 2025 low of around $78,850. It has since rebounded to $83,846 at time of publishing. Bitcoin was down 15% over the last seven days and has lost a quarter of its value since US President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20.
Renewed fears around tariffs and a cacophonous White House have tempered high expectations for the crypto markets broadly in the wake of the November 5 election.
Andrew Flanagan is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Reach out to aflanagan@dlnews.com.