BlackRock sells $71.78 million in Bitcoin as ETF redemptions pile up

BlackRock has sold $71.78 million worth of Bitcoin, according to a widely shared post on X. That number sounds dramatic when you attach the name of the world’s largest asset manager to it. The reality is more mundane, and arguably more telling. The selling traces back to investors pulling money out of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), not to Larry Fink’s team deciding Bitcoin had a bad vibe. What actually happened IBIT is the largest US spot Bitcoin ETF, holding tens of billions of dollars in assets. When shareholders redeem, the fund sells some of the Bitcoin backing those shares to pay them out. BlackRock has made that point itself. The firm maintains its Bitcoin sales are purely reactive, driven by client demand, and no proprietary Bitcoin selling by BlackRock has been documented. Every sale on record ties back to redemptions. The $71.78 million figure lands amid a run of similar moves. Research covering mid-October 2026 shows IBIT clients sold approximately $65.4 million in Bitcoin on October 13, 2026. That followed a much rougher session earlier in the month. On October 7, 2026, IBIT saw $207.7 million in outflows in a single day. IBIT was not alone that day. Net outfl...