Bitcoin has rocketed by 20% over the last week, soaring as Treasury secretary Scott Bessent puts the “fear of god’” into traders.
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The bitcoin price has topped $80,000 per bitcoin for the first time since May, kindling hopes among the crypto faithful that the 2026 bear market could be coming to an end.
Now, as Elon Musk’s $40 trillion nightmare suddenly comes true, the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock has revealed its $60 billion bitcoin fund is poised to keep growing.
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BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink has led the Wall Street adoption of bitcoin and crypto—boosting the bitcoin price.
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“It’s going to keep growing because we keep expanding the access,” Robbie Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, told Bloomberg.
BlackRock, which led the 2023 campaign to bring a full-fledged bitcoin spot exchange traded fund (ETF) to market, has reportedly lowered the minimum bitcoin required for a direct swap into its IBIT fund, down to just $1 million from $25 million previously.
Investors can exchange their bitcoin for BlackRock ETF shares without first selling their holdings, something that would potentially incur capital gains taxes.
Since its launch, BlackRock’s bitcoin fund has become the fastest ETF to reach most milestones, beating all other ETFs in any asset class and now holds just over 765,000 bitcoin worth $60 billion on behalf of investors.
BlackRock is looking to capitalize on the recent hack of Coldcard hardware wallets which saw some versions of the device hit by attackers despite their owners believing them to be secure.
The hack, along with a other attacks on crypto hardware wallets, software and even growing physical attacks on people, sparked fears the risk of holding bitcoin in so-called self-custody could be too high.
“People see things happen in the outside world—whether it’s kidnappings, ransom, custody failures—that motivate them to make this switch for all or some of their holdings,” Mitchnick said.
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The bitcoin price has suddenly surged over the last week, igniting bets that the bear market is over.
Forbes Digital Assets
Meanwhile, the 13 U.S. bitcoin ETFs, led by BlackRock’s IBIT, have recorded their strongest weekly inflows in 10 months, per Bloomberg data, fueling trader bets that the bitcoin price rally to $80,000 will stick.
“Bitcoin’s 23% rally and the jump in volatility this week rank among the largest in its history, and similarly sized moves have often preceded above-average returns in the near to medium term,” Talos researchers Tanay Ved and Cooper Duschang wrote in an emailed note.
“Unlike a similar breakout attempt in May, which lacked comparable ETF support and faded, this week’s move carries a structural bid the prior one didn’t.”