According to reports from Bloomberg and The Economic Times, BlackRock reduced its Bitcoin-to-IBIT swap minimum from $25 million to $1 million in July 2026. The 96% reduction makes the conversion service accessible to a broader group of wealthy investors and institutions. Bitwise reportedly made a similar adjustment, lowering its threshold from $100 million to $3 million, as reported by Bloomberg. These changes represent significant barriers to entry for institutional and high-net-worth investors seeking to convert Bitcoin exposure into regulated ETF shares. As reported by FinanceFeeds, the lower minimum expands access to the process for mid-sized institutional participants, including registered investment advisers, family offices, and smaller trading firms operating through authorized participants. The Economic Times notes that what began as a bespoke service for the very wealthy is becoming more routine, with BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnick stating "It's going to keep growing because we keep expanding the access."
Recent market data reveals unprecedented investor interest in Bitcoin exposure through IBIT. As reported by Yahoo Finance, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust recorded 1.58 million call-option contracts on August 19, with more than 1 million calls traded for three straight sessions. Goldman Sachs noted that call skew posted its biggest three-day jump since January 2025, indicating strong bullish sentiment. The fund experienced more than $1 billion in net inflows over August 19-21 as Bitcoin moved toward $80,000, demonstrating robust institutional and retail demand for Bitcoin exposure. According to FinanceFeeds, retail investors cannot redeem IBIT shares directly for Bitcoin, and the change concerns the fund's creation and redemption process rather than open-market purchases of IBIT shares. The Economic Times reports that Bitcoin surged over the past week to briefly top $80,000, as improving market conditions and returning investor demand accelerated a rally that had begun with a squeeze on bearish positions.
Recent custody failures and security concerns have significantly accelerated the migration of Bitcoin from private wallets to regulated ETFs. As reported by AMBCrypto, 210K BTC coins worth over $13 billion were moved among long-term holder wallets after the Coldcard vulnerability fallout, representing a custody migration rather than capitulation. Top Bitcoin hardware wallets including Ledger and Trezor have faced increased scrutiny after an attacker made off with over $100 million, or 1,800+ BTC coins. BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnick cited two key factors driving this trend: "People see things happen in the outside world — whether it's kidnappings, ransom, custody failures — that motivate them to make this switch for all or some of their holdings." Physical attacks and kidnappings, commonly known as "wrench attacks," have spiked in France and the U.S., with attacks targeting crypto investors ending in mutilations and deaths, though overall funds stolen via wrench attacks have declined by about 3x in recent years.
As reported by Bloomberg and The Economic Times, BlackRock's Robbie Mitchnick, head of digital assets, confirmed that IBIT had processed more than $5 billion in Bitcoin swaps, up from more than $3 billion when Bloomberg reported on the trend last October. The transactions use an in-kind creation process where eligible holders transfer Bitcoin into the ETF structure and receive IBIT shares representing comparable exposure. This arrangement avoids requiring holders to sell Bitcoin for cash and then purchase ETF shares separately. The process, per Mitchnick, can take more than a week, and inquiries are coming from both US and international clients. The Economic Times notes that the first time Bitwise handled such an in-kind transaction, the deal had to be worth at least $100 million to secure the required support from authorized participants, with the threshold later falling to $50 million and now $3 million. At 21shares, completed in-kind transactions over the past three months have averaged about $5 million in size, according to The Economic Times.
According to BlackRock's fund page, IBIT held approximately $60.65 billion in net assets as of August 25. The fund charges a 0.25% sponsor fee and holds approximately 22.65 Bitcoin per creation basket. As reported by FinanceFeeds, the fund valued one basket at about $1.78 million that day, although basket values change with Bitcoin's price. The product page showed Bitcoin holdings with a market value of $60.69 billion as of August 24, 2026, listing 768,039.86710 Bitcoin and $18,840.14 in US dollar cash. For performance, BlackRock listed IBIT's year-to-date NAV total return at -9.86% as of August 24, 2026, and the one-year total return at -45.62%, compared with -45.48% for its benchmark.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved in-kind creations and redemptions for spot crypto exchange-traded products in July 2025, with original approvals requiring funds to use cash. According to Bloomberg, the conversions can help holders avoid realizing capital gains by selling Bitcoin before purchasing ETF shares, though tax outcomes depend on the investor, intermediary, jurisdiction, and legal structure. As reported by The Economic Times, signs of broader adoption are showing up across the industry. At Morgan Stanley, in-kind conversions account for about 5% to 7% of overall holdings in its roughly $560 million spot Bitcoin ETF, MSBT. The Economic Times reports that the mechanism is also spreading beyond Bitcoin, with Grayscale Investments using in-kind transactions for Ether products, while Bitwise carries them out for Ether and Solana. At Grayscale, the shift has been rapid, with 28% of gross Bitcoin creations and 57% of gross Ether creations processed in-kind in March, climbing to 62% and 63% respectively by June. The Economic Times notes that the remaining constraint is the plumbing, with transactions passing through authorized participants or market makers, adding costs that help explain why the service began with very large holders and why minimums remain high, though they could fall further as more intermediaries build capacity.
