BlackRock buys nearly $2 billion worth of crypto since start of Iran War

BlackRock, the foremost asset manager in the world, has seen a noteworthy change in its crypto net holdings since the ongoing war in Iran began. 

Most notably, the fund currently holds approximately $53.22 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC), judging by the real-time wallet data available on Arkham at the time of writing, April 2. 

This amounts to roughly 782,290 tokens, up from 760,850, valued at $51.26 billion on February 28 when the first strikes were launched. 

The increase of roughly 21,440 BTC reflects both net inflows and a modest rise in Bitcoin’s price from $67,368 to $68,028 over the same period.

BlackRock trims its Ethereum exposure

In contrast, the firm’s Ethereum (ETH) exposure has dropped. Specifically, its holdings declined from 3.15 million ETH, worth $6.37 billion at the end of February, to 3.02 million ETH, valued around $6.35 billion by April 2. 

Despite ETH’s price rising from $2,025 to $2,101, the total value of BlackRock’s position edged lower, showing that net outflows have been the chief culprit beyond the drop in numbers.

What this suggests is that institutional capital continues to favor Bitcoin as the dominant digital asset and a hedge, even as Ethereum posts price gains and registers its highest quarterly transactions ever.

BlackRock’s crypto holdings grow

Overall, BlackRock’s crypto portfolio saw a net increase in value of about $1.94 billion, driven primarily by its expanding Bitcoin allocation. 

In addition to the two leading digital assets discussed above, the fund has also posted some additional, smaller changes to its portfolio, ranging from a few hundred dollars in Vertical AI (VERTAI) to more than $100 thousand in EnviDa (EDAT).

In total, BlackRock commands $59.57 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, the vast majority of it in Bitcoin (89%) and Ethereum (11%).

Featured image via Shutterstock