BlackRock has reportedly pulled out some of its BTC from its Coinbase account. This comes just as they have been boosting their portfolio with more purchases. To add, the Bitcoin price has seen a pullback from its recent highs raising speculation that the move might be to sell.
BlackRock Moves BTC as Bitcoin Price Dips
According to data highlighted by an expert, the asset manager has made multiple withdrawals of BTC from Coinbase Prime. While many experts speculate that these are just custody transfers from the exchange’s hot wallet to the IBIT ETF, many think they might be gearing up to sell some tokens.
BlackRock has been withdrawing a ton of BTC from Coinbase pic.twitter.com/c3u2ymRzTO
— 0xMarioNawfal (@RoundtableSpace) January 17, 2026
These transfers raised investors’ eyebrows, especially as it comes when the token pulled back from its recent highs of above $97,000. The coin is down about 1% in the past 24 hours.
This is not the first time BlackRock has made significant withdrawals. Around the same time last week, the asset manager moved abour $294 million in BTC and ETH to Coinbase. The transfer was ahead of the crypto options expiry and was also tied to a potential sell-off.
A day before then, they made a similar transfer to the exchange, raising a pattern. However, SoSoValue data on ETF inflows and outflows tell a different story. At the close of trading on Friday, Bitcoin ETFs saw an outflow of $394 million. Other funds by other asset managers saw outflows, but only IBIT saw an inflow of about $15 million.
Meanwhile, it was reported that BlackRock purchased about 6,647 tokens in one trading session yesterday. Its total Bitcoin holdings are now at 781,000 BTC, closing in on 4% of the tokens in circulation currently.
Why is Bitcoin Falling in Value?
The Bitcoin price, which looked to be gaining ground after trading in the range of $90,000, has retreated in performance. The coin broke close to $98,000 earlier this week as experts projected its return to $100,000.
However, the token could not sustain its upward momentum especially after the setback the crypto market bill encourntered during the week. Sentiment shifted badly among traders as Coinbase publicly called the crypto bill a “bad” legislation.
Joining the decline, crypto stocks also recorded massive losses mirroring the Bitcoin price decline. Gold and silver, which also had a great start to the week, saw losses of about 1% and 5% respectively.
Adding to the BlackRock BTC transfers, there was a shift in sentiment after the Supreme Court delayed its ruling on the Trump Tariffs. Markets had expected a decision on clarity this week but were met with disappointment as no decision was made. This has kept the fears of a potential market crash if a negative verdict is decided.