BlackRock had already been telling institutional investors in private events that Bitcoin could make up as much as 28% of a portfolio before presenting that stance publicly. The firm manages about $14 trillion in assets, so any shift in its positioning draws close attention across financial markets.
Bitcoin enters the institutional allocation debate
Under Larry Fink, BlackRock has been increasingly vocal about digital assets. In May, the company said crypto investing had entered “a new phase.” At the LAIF26 conference in Los Angeles, it opened discussion on where Bitcoin fits inside institutional portfolios.
ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood said BlackRock’s influence extends beyond sentiment because of Aladdin, the portfolio management platform used by many of the world’s largest asset managers. In her view, once Fink put tokenization at the center of the firm’s infrastructure strategy, portfolio managers using that system had to pay attention. She framed the goal as distribution rather than price.
Fink’s public stance has changed sharply
Back in 2017, Fink called Bitcoin a “money laundering index,” when the asset traded near $5,685. Today, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust holds roughly 810,000 BTC and has about $62 billion in assets, making it the world’s largest dedicated Bitcoin fund.
In his annual shareholder letter, Fink also said tokenization would become part of the financial system by 2026. He compared the shift to the internet’s expansion in 1996 and said assets ranging from bonds to private loans would eventually move on-chain.
Institutional ownership of spot Bitcoin ETFs keeps rising
Current market data points to a larger institutional footprint already in place. Institutional investors now account for 38% of total spot Bitcoin ETF assets, up from 24% a year earlier. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have grown past $100 billion in total assets, and BlackRock’s IBIT represents about 49% of that amount.
During the first quarter of 2026, IBIT posted net inflows on 48 of 62 trading days, bringing in $8.4 billion in fresh capital. Over that same stretch, Bitcoin fell from above $90,000 to a little over $70,000, with the source article describing retail selling while institutions bought the dip.
ARK Invest said it first bought Bitcoin in 2015 at around $250 per coin. Based on its model, tokenized global financial assets could exceed $10 trillion by 2030 if adoption continues at a high rate.