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Key Insights:
- BlackRock IBIT dominated Friday’s $403 million inflows in spot Bitcoin ETFs across all US issuers.
- Harvard University invested $116.6 million in BlackRock’s IBIT, becoming its 29th largest holder.
- Despite community speculation, BlackRock confirmed it has no current plans for XRP or Solana ETFs.
Bitcoin’s institutional demand remains strong as BlackRock iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) purchased another 3,089 BTC for $360 million on Friday. As a result, the asset manager now holds 742,451 BTC in the IBIT fund. Led by BlackRock, inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs have shot up significantly after heavy outflows last week.
Blackrock Dominates Net Bitcoin ETF Inflows
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is once again seeing strong institutional demand after a brief pause last week. On August 8, the fund led the $403 million in net inflows across all US Bitcoin ETF issuers. With $360 million of inflows, IBIT net trading volume also crossed $1.9 billion.
Following the latest purchase, IBIT’s net assets under management (AUM) have now crossed $86 billion. Top market analysts believe strong institutional inflows into IBIT have helped curb BTC’s volatility.
In a recent update, Bloomberg ETF Strategist Eric Balchunas noted that volatility in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has declined to 38 this week. Thus, it now matches the volatility level of the Magnificent 7 ETF (MAGS).
Mitchell Askew from Blockware also stated that this decreasing volatility shows BTc looks like a completely different asset before and after volatility. In his latest message on the X platform, Mitchell wrote:
BTC will be volatile by TradFi standards but “boring” by historical BTC standards. Other digital monopolies (AMZN, Apple, GOOGL, etc.) experienced declining volatility as they matured. I suspect BTC will be no different but that’s a good thing.
Harvard University Invests $117 Million into IBIT
As per the latest SEC filing, Harvard Management Company, which manages Harvard University’s endowment, purchased a total of 1,906,000 shares of the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), valued at roughly $116.6 million. As a result, Harvard’s BTC stake is above its stake in top tech firms like Nvidia and Google’s Alphabet.
Furthermore, the SEC filing also reveals that Brown University increased its IBIT holdings, buying 212,500 shares worth over $13 million. This is nearly double the 105,000 shares it held on March 31. Speaking on the development, Eric Balchunas wrote:
Harvard and Brown have bought $IBIT. Harvard is pretty sizable too, the 29th biggest holder out 1,300 holders. IMO Endowments are the hardest institution to hook, they rarely bite on ETFs.
Amid all these developments, the Bitcoin price continues to flirt with $114,000. However, the surge in BTC profit-taking has prevented further upside for the largest digital asset. Currently, $115,000 remains a crucial resistance for BTC, and a breakout above it could set the stage for further rally.
BlackRock Denies Any Plans for SOL, XRP ETF
Despite the high hopes from the crypto community, asset manager BlackRock has denied any plans to launch a crypto ETF for altcoins like XRP and Solana (SOL). Following the Ripple lawsuit victory earlier this week, speculation was that the world’s largest asset manager would soon file for the iShares XRP Trust with the US SEC.
However, the asset manager denied any plans for the same. “At this time, BlackRock does not have any plans to file an XRP or SOL ETF,” a BlackRock spokesperson said.
Industry players were quick enough to react to the development. ETF Store President Nate Geraci strongly believed that an XRP ETF came from the asset manager. However, following Friday’s clarification, Geraci wrote:
IMO, makes zero sense for them to ignore crypto assets beyond btc & eth. Otherwise, they’re basically saying btc & eth are only ones that will ever have value. Bold. IMO, this will be looked back on as a mistake.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is actively reviewing multiple proposals for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that would track cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
