A BlackRock exchange-traded fund (ETF) known as iShares Bitcoin Trust has become a favourite among billionaires looking to invest in the crypto market. This Index fund that tracks the spot pricing of Bitcoin (BTC) has investments from David Shaw of D.E. Shaw & Company, Ken Griffin of Citadel Advisors and Israel Englander of Millennium Management.
Although these billionaires shares in this BlackRock Index Fund are small, they are the owners of the topmost hedge funds in the world which makes it crucial for the crypto industry. All three billionaires invested in iShare Bitcoin in the first half of 2024 as they saw a potential surge in it.
While David Shaw bought 2.6 million shares, one-tenth of a percent of his $107 billion net worth, Ken Griffin purchased 63,186 shares which is less than one-tenth of a percent of his $494 billion net worth. Meanwhile. Israel Englander bought 10.8 million shares in the BlackRock Index Fund which is two-tenths of a percent of his $216 billion net worth.
According to some Wall Street experts, these investments are key indicators that Bitcoin’s value will soar in the next decades as seen in how it has doubled its value over the year. This is visible in the surge in the Bitcoin open interest hitting $19.8 billion last week and how the #Bitcoin hashrate hit an all-time high on October 21. The market sentiment of BTC is also at an all-time high, making crypto holders gain 95% profit.
In fact, this led BlackRock to announce that Bitcoin is a unique diversifier with the company having $10 trillion under its management. The Bitcoin exchange-traded fund claimed in its latest report that BTC is highly volatile as it remains independent of asset clashes.
New forecasts suggest that Bitcoin prices could increase by 73000% by the end of 2045, cementing iShares role in this gain as a Bitcoin trust. As per crypto analyst Gautam Chhugani of Bernstein, BTC has the potential to touch $1 million by 2033 and $500,000 by 2029, as it becomes mainstream because of spot Bitcoin ETFs. This indicates that the price could increase by 1390% based on the trading point of $67,606.68.
Other analyst like Cathie Wood from Ark Invest thinks that by 2030 Bitcoin could reach $3.8 million if institutional investors like those who invested in the BlackRock Index Find spent over 5% of their portfolio to Bitcoin. According to Wood, this is a highly possible outcome which suggests that the Bitcoin market will be at least up by 5570% from its present trading point. At present BTC’s trading volume is $40.36 billion which is over 162% increase in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency had a 70% bullish sentiment as of October 21.