Founded in 1988, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is the world's largest asset manager with more than $14 trillionin assets under management as of 2025.
It was among the first Wall Street giants to launch a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to Bitcoin (BTC) in January 2024 once the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlit it.
A spot Bitcoin ETF allows both institutional and retail investors to gain indirect Bitcoin exposure via a traditional avenue. It trades like regular shares on traditional stock exchanges like Nasdaq and offers a regulated Bitcoin exposure without the need to directly hold or manage it.
Related: Another fund from BlackRock makes stunning $15M debut
How BlackRock turned into a Bitcoin giant
Note that BlackRock doesn't buy Bitcoin for itself; instead, investors buy IBIT shares through the stock market.
Each IBIT share represents a fraction of Bitcoin held by the BlackRock fund. So BlackRock holds Bitcoin on behalf of IBIT shareholders.
Here is how it plays out.
Investors, both institutional and retail, buy or sell IBIT shares on Nasdaq. Authorized participants handle the creation or redemption of these shares.
When demand rises, these participants buy Bitcoin from the market and deliver it to the BlackRock ETF. In return, they receive newly created IBIT shares.
But when demand sinks, these participants return IBIT shares to the ETF in exchange for the underlying Bitcoin and sell it in the open market.
It has been more than two years since BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) launch in January 2024, and the fund has seen cumulative net inflows of $63.21 billion as of SoSoValue .
Since March 9, the IBIT fund has witnessed positive inflows every day.
As of March 16, BlackRock holds 784,061.76 Bitcoinin assets under management. It means BlackRock's holdings now account for 3.7% of the total Bitcoin supply of 21 million coins.
However, BlackRock's Bitcoin holdings could soon get surpassed by those of a 39-year-old firm that is very popular within the crypto community.
More News:
Strategy builds largest Bitcoin treasury
Michael Saylor founded MicroStrategy(Nasdaq: MSTR) as a software enterprise company in 1989. But it turned to Bitcoin amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
As per the latest Form 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Strategy purchased 22,337 BTC for $1.57 billion during March 9-15.
While BlackRock holds Bitcoin on behalf of IBIT shareholders, Strategy has built the world's largest corporate Bitcoin treasury company.
The company says its common shares provide investors indirect Bitcoin exposure at a premium.
For this purpose, Strategy uses mNAV (market to net asset value) which is a metric comparing a company's market capitalization to the value of its underlying Bitcoin holdings.
However, the ongoing crisis in the Bitcoin market has led to Strategy's mNAV declining from the 2024 peak of 3.4x to 1.20 at press time .
In short, buying MSTR shares isn't particularly alluring in comparison to buying Bitcoin.
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Strategy's Bitcoin holdings rival BlackRock
The company, rebranded to Strategy last year, now holds 761,068 Bitcoin, accounting for 3.6% of the total supply.
Bernstein analysts, led by Gautam Chhugani, recently said Bitcoin now has a more resilient ownership structure due to institutional capital and highlighted Strategy functioning as a "Bitcoin central bank of last resort."
In short, a "Bitcoin central bank" like Strategy could soon surpass the world's leading asset manager, BlackRock, in Bitcoin holdings.
Bitcoin was exchanging hands at $74,522.92 at the time of writing.
MicroStrategy on track to surpass BlackRock's Bitcoin holdings
Strategy currently holds 761,068 BTC, while BlackRock holds 784,061.76 BTC, meaning Strategy is behind by 22,993.76 BTC.
That gap represents roughly 3.02% more Bitcointhan Strategy's current holdings.
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Gap to close:22,994 BTC
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% increase needed:0% of Strategy's current stack
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Daily buying pace (recent):2,881 BTC/day
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Time to surpass BlackRock:7–8 days
At its latest weekly pace of 22,337 BTC, Strategy would nearly close the entire gap in a single week, falling just short by around 657 BTC.
However, if BlackRock continues to see ETF inflows, the target keeps moving higher — meaning Strategy would need to outpace ETF-driven demand, not just match its current trajectory.
On current pace alone, Strategy could potentially overtake BlackRock's Bitcoin holdings within one week.
Disclaimer: This assumes BlackRock's holdings remain unchanged, which in reality may not be the case due to ongoing ETF inflows.
Related: Analyst predicts 25% upside for Saylor's MicroStrategy stock
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Mar 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
