Big Bitcoin holders are moving their wealth from the blockchain onto Wall Street’s balance sheet.
A new generation of ETFs is giving the crypto rich a novel way to fold their digital fortunes into the regulated financial system — without selling, and through funds run by big asset managers like BlackRock Inc.
A regulatory change this summer opened the door for large investors to hand their Bitcoin to an ETF in exchange for shares of the fund. It’s called an in-kind transaction and is used across most ETFs, but was only approved for Bitcoin products this July. The process is generally tax-neutral, whereby no cash changes hands and no sale is recorded. The result is that a volatile digital asset becomes a line item on a brokerage statement — easier to borrow against, pledge as collateral, or pass onto heirs.
BlackRock has already facilitated more than $3 billion of these conversions, according to Robbie Mitchnick, its head of digital assets. Bitwise Asset Management says inquiries now arrive daily from investors wanting to bring their holdings onto wealth-manager platforms. Liquidity provider Galaxy has processed a handful of conversions so far, says Michael Harvey, its head of franchise trading.
Large Bitcoin holders are waking up to “the convenience of being able to hold their exposure within their existing financial adviser or private-bank relationship,” among other reasons for converting, Mitchnick said.
It’s the latest reinvention for the world’s largest cryptocurrency. Born as a decentralized revolt against mainstream financial institutions, Bitcoin is now being quietly absorbed by them. Its anti-establishment holders are warming up to the idea that some parts of finance are better accessed through the traditional system.
By exchanging their Bitcoin for ETF shares, investors can keep the same stake in the cryptocurrency while moving it into a form the financial system recognizes. Inside a brokerage account, that holding can be pledged as collateral, borrowed against or included in estate plans — things that are cumbersome, risky or impossible when assets sit in a private digital wallet. The ETF wrapper offers legitimacy and ease, turning what was once off-grid wealth into something banks and advisers can work with.
“There are still benefits of having things in the traditional financial system,” said Teddy Fusaro, president at Bitwise, whose firm executed its first in-kind transaction with the BITB ETF in August.
He gave an example of an investor with a $1 million portfolio housed on a wealth-management platform and a separate $5 million worth of Bitcoin on a ledger. “Your wealth management platform treats you like you’re a $1 million client,” said Fusaro. “If you bring your $5 million worth of Bitcoin into a Bitcoin ETF, and you now hold that on your wealth management platform, you qualify for a much higher level of service.”
BlackRock’s Mitchnick declined to comment on the exact number of transactions his firm has processed within the IBIT ETF, but said further regulatory clarity would expand volumes and participation from big banks. He said client inquiries range from investors looking to switch just 20% of their Bitcoin to ETF form, to holders looking to go completely TradFi.
“There is a subset who are just going 100/zero, saying ‘consolidate everything in this way, it’s the easiest way for me to hold this going forward,’” he said.
Meanwhile, more of Wall Street may soon be looking to take advantage of these in-kind transactions. BlackRock says banks are already playing a limited role in facilitating these trades — particularly in the ETF creation leg — even though only non-bank broker-dealers can currently handle the full transaction.
“Life is just easier in TradFi land — we’ve spent a century perfecting integration, access, and security. Bitcoiners are finally realizing that,” said Wes Gray, CEO and founder of ETF firm Alpha Architect, which specializes in tax-aware strategies. “The great irony, of course, is that Bitcoin was born to escape traditional finance — and now its biggest holders are trying to get back in.”
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