BlackRock

Type: Asset Manager / ETF Issuer

BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager (~$10T AUM) and has emerged as the most consequential institutional entrant into digital assets. Its two flagship crypto products — IBIT (spot BTC ETF) and BUIDL (tokenized money-market fund) — define the institutional crypto infrastructure in 2026.

Crypto Products

• IBIT (iShares Bitcoin Trust) — Spot Bitcoin ETF; AUM estimates range ~$62B (Investing.com, Apr 30 2026: ~809-812k BTC) to ~$67-70B (other already-compiled sources) — figures diverge by measurement date; captured >70% of April 2026's monthly inflows; Nasdaq-listed; Coinbase Custody as custodian
• ETHA (iShares Ethereum Trust) — Spot ETH ETF; per BlockEden (Jan 18, 2026, full-text verified 2026-07-22), explicitly non-staking at that time (0.25% fee)
• ETHB (iShares Staked Ethereum Trust) — Previously recorded here as a staking ETF launched March 12, 2026 on Nasdaq with $107M seed, staking 70–95% of ETH holdings for 1.9–2.6% net annual yield. Note: not mentioned in the BlockEden source (Jan 2026) used to compile the Proof-of-Stake page — this product/launch could not be re-verified this session; treat as carried-forward and unconfirmed.
• BUIDL (BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund) — Tokenized money-market fund on Ethereum; $1.7B AUM (largest tokenized Treasury product); settles instantly against USDC; Securitize as transfer agent; cited by RWA.xyz as a marquee yield-bearing tokenized-collateral product alongside Ondo USDY and Franklin BENJI

ETF Dominance & Concentration

By The Block's tally, IBIT reached ~$70B AUM (≈59% of all spot BTC ETF assets) by November 2025 within total BTC ETF AUM of ~$120B. TokenPost's June 2026 reporting shows IBIT and Fidelity's FBTC together capturing >90% of daily inflows on Jan 14, 2026 and ~79% on May 1, 2026 — an "IBIT+FBTC two-horse race" that held up even as Bitcoin fell ~29% YTD 2026. BlackRock's distribution advantage (Aladdin, wirehouse relationships) appears to compound regardless of price direction.

Key Role

BlackRock's entry into spot ETFs (January 2024) was the signal that permanently changed institutional attitudes toward crypto allocations. Its Aladdin platform distribution and wirehouse relationships explain IBIT's structural dominance. BUIDL has become the reference architecture for institutional tokenized fund products — demonstrating how a regulated fund wrapper can distribute through blockchain settlement rails.

Recent Developments

• 2026-04 — April spot BTC ETF inflows $2.44B; IBIT held ~$62B (~810k BTC), captured >70% of the month's inflows (Investing.com)
• 2026-05 — IBIT + FBTC took ~79% of daily spot BTC ETF inflows (May 1); IBIT remains dominant despite BTC −29% YTD (TokenPost)
• 2026-03 — ETHB staking ETF launch (March 12) — carried forward, unverified this session
• 2026-01 — IBIT + FBTC took >90% of daily inflows (Jan 14); IBIT passed $50B AUM
• 2025-11 — IBIT ~$70B AUM (≈59% of all spot BTC ETF assets), per The Block
• 2025-ongoing — BUIDL reached $1.7B–$2.4B depending on source (see Tokenization/RWA for the conflict); became largest single tokenized Treasury product

Mentioned In

• Spot ETF Wrapper — IBIT is the defining product
• Tokenization / RWA — BUIDL is the reference architecture
• Proof-of-Stake — ETHB applies staking yield to ETF structure

Changelog

• 2026-06-24 — Compiled new sources (institutional-crypto-outlook-2026, blackrock-fidelity-btc-etf-concentration, rwa-tokenization-2026-state)
• 2026-07-22 — Full-text fetch of bitcoin-etf-flows-2026 and ethereum-staking-etf-sec-2026 completed; added April 2026 flow detail; flagged IBIT AUM and ETHB figures as diverging from/unconfirmed by full-text source