$1.29 billion BlackRock Bitcoin ETF sale adds pressure on BTC

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BlackRock ETF sale adds pressure on BTC

Highlights

An unknown investor sold $1.29 billion worth of BlackRock IBIT shares through a dark pool.
The trade came amid broader outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
The funds have lost $1.88 billion over seven consecutive days of outflows.
IBIT recorded $192.44 million in net redemptions.

$1.29 billion sale took place off the open market

The trade took place on Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. New York time, according to Galaxy head of research Alex Thorn. He called it the largest transaction of this type he had ever seen.

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According to CoinDesk, a dark pool allows large market participants to carry out big trades outside the public exchange order book. This format reduces the risk of immediate pressure on the spot price, but the scale of the transaction still sends an important signal to the market.

The sale of IBIT shares does not necessarily mean a complete exit from the fund. One party may have reduced its position while other buyers absorbed a significant part of the volume. However, overall flow data show that pressure on ETFs remains.

Bitcoin ETF outflows continue

On Tuesday, total net outflows from the 11 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs reached about $334 million. It was the seventh consecutive day of net outflows, the second-longest streak since the funds launched in January 2024. Over that period, investors pulled $1.88 billion from the ETFs.

The longest outflow streak lasted eight trading days and occurred twice: in late August and early September 2024, totaling $1.2 billion, and again in February 2025, totaling $3.3 billion. According to SoSoValue, IBIT alone processed net redemptions of $192.44 million on Tuesday.

The pressure is also visible in Bitcoin’s price. The largest cryptocurrency fell below $76,000 after rising above $82,000 on May 6. Over the past two weeks, a total of $2.26 billion has been withdrawn from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, raising concerns about the durability of institutional demand.

Institutional demand faces a test

A large dark pool trade does not automatically mean a market sell-off: such transactions are often used specifically to avoid a sharp impact on price. But it coincided with a sustained outflow streak, making the signal more significant.

For Bitcoin, the key risk now is not a single IBIT sale but a shift in ETF flow direction. If investors continue withdrawing money from the funds, price pressure may persist, especially after BTC has already given back part of its May gains.

We also reported that Bank of America discloses Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana ETF positions.

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