After missing some beats from late May to early June, BlackRock’s Ishares Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (IBIT) returned to its previous burning form last week, making a net investment of around $1.1 billion in total.
The fund is one of the great investment success stories, cracking $70 billion in managed assets in just 341 days, faster than any of the thousands of funds in the 32-year history of the ETF industry. IBIT’s popularity reflects the strength of the $11.6 trillion asset management giant’s brand, as well as the growing embraces of formerly crypto-shy investment advisors and other institutions.
“The fact that you have advisors and agencies that employ it (Crypto ETFS) this is a good sign right away.” Decryption. “These are big fish that don’t bite right away. It usually takes them years for them to become interested in ETFs, as it means liquidity. They are some of the most difficult investors to attract.”
Balchunas added: “Advisors and agencies, they’re more refined.”
Look at the breakdown of owners of Spot Bitcoin ETF via 13F filing. The advisor climbs the list to #1 #1 in a mile. These 13F filers account for 20% of total assets, but via @jseyff pic.twitter.com/jgxm4zmaex, IMO is likely to rise to 35-40% as more recruits come
– Eric Balchunas (@ericbalchunas) June 4, 2025
A Bloomberg Intelligence Report earlier this month found that investment advisors file a 13-f report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, holding roughly 20% of Spot Bitcoin ETF stocks (an unfairly $21 billion in assets). The holdings of dramatically grown assets are ranked “one mile” as hedge fund managers and brokerage companies are behind, Bulknath said in the June 9th X-Post.
Balchunas said about 1,200 13-F filers own IBIT stake. “That’s insane,” he said. Decryption.
Growth has happened as the Trump administration loosened regulations, introduced more crypto-friendly policies, and caused significant price increases in BTC and major altcoins. Bitcoin has recently been trading nearly $105,000. This surpasses the annual profit of 12% and earns most other risk-on assets. This has not been lost to investors who are experiencing a surge in appetite for digital assets and products based on them.
As a result, the interest of Crypto ETF’s financial advisors has been heated. A crypto-centric asset manager released in January by Bitise and Financial Services data provider Vettafi said one in five advisors were assigned to investor accounts in 2025, twice the previous year’s share, with 400 advisors surveyed receiving questions about Crypto over that period.
Longtime financial advisor and founder of the Council of Digital Asset Financial Experts, Ric Edelman told the Trade Group Decryption That there is a friendly political environment behind the trend for the advisor’s resolve to learn more about digital assets and their.
“We can’t recommend something that we don’t know,” Edelman said. “Advisors are competing to improve their knowledge so that they can provide reasonable advice to clients, which is their biggest concern. At the same time, companies recognize that this is a great opportunity to increase AUM to buy Bitcoin.
At last week’s meeting, Edelman asked his advisors to allocate at least 10% to digital assets for a careful portfolio, as well as 40% for more enterprising accounts, as well as a traditional 60-40 stock and bond split, and an increase from his recommendation that investors should allocate single digits for staining.
“The allocation models you know well – rocks and bonds – can now be replaced by those with stock. CryptoBonds,” Edelman told an audience of independent financial advisors at a vision event held in Arlington, Texas.
Edelman said Decryption IBIT’s AUM rankings are on top of the other 10 funds in its spot Bitcoin category and come from brand recognition.
“When institutional investors are involved for the first time, that’s the path of least resistance to approval by the board and C-Suite,” he said. “If you’re engaged in investing in a new asset class with most experience and knowledge, you can spread some of your concerns by choosing one of the most well-known brands. It’s BlackRock. BlackRock is the beneficiary of that brand.”
ETF.com Senior Analyst Sumit Roy hopes cryptocurrency momentum will grow as investors seek exposure to digital assets without the risks and liability they hold directly.
“More adventurous investors have been able to be exposed for a long time through crypto trading platforms such as crypto trading platforms (pre-ETF conversion) such as OTC vehicles such as Coinbase and GBTC,” says Roy. “Advisors and agencies were much slower to adopt cryptography given the risks and lack of regulatory protection.”
“We now use regulated ETFs,” he added, “these experts are in the space and we hope they will continue to march slowly over these funds.”
Edited by Andrew Hayward