It was on Jan. 11, 2024, that BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) had launched its spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to Bitcoin (BTC). I remember how the crypto industry felt then.
The world's largest asset manager had finally conceded it could no longer avoid cryptocurrency, and my colleagues just couldn't believe a Wall Street giant had launched a Bitcoin product.
Related: BlackRock reveals retail traders' next portfolio move
A crypto ETF trades like regular shares on a traditional trading exchange like Nasdaq and offers a regulated and familiar way to gain indirect crypto exposure without the need to directly hold or manage virtual assets.
It has been more than two years since the launch and BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (Nasdaq: IBIT) has finally reached an iconic milestone.
As per the onchain analytics platform SoSoValue , IBIT now holds net assets worth more than $69 billion as of Jan. 28.
So far, it has a cumulative net inflow of $62.8 billion.
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Comparing IBIT and Bitcoin price charts
Since BlackRock's IBIT tracks the price of Bitcoin, I think it's obvious to compare the prices of both the fund and the cryptocurrency.
Since its launch two years ago, IBIT has seen a price appreciation of 70%. During the same period, BTC has risen by a mere 20%.
Though the king coin's price surpassed the $126,000 mark in early October last year to hit a new record high, the loss it faced after the Oct. 10 crash is reflected on the chart.
BTC has lost 30% of its value since Oct. 10 last year. IBIT has similarly lost 30% of its value since that day.
At press time, BlackRock's IBIT was trading at $47.44, down 6% in a day. Bitcoin was trading at $83,901.94 at press time, down 6.5% in a day.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Jan 29, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
