BlackRock added more than $3B in Bitcoin (BTC) and nearly $500M in Ethereum (ETH) to its crypto holdings since the U.S.-Iran conflict escalated in late February.
BlackRock's Crypto Accumulation
Between Feb. 28 — the date the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes across Iran — and Apr. 3, BlackRock quietly purchased approximately $3.1B in Bitcoin and close to $500M in Ethereum. The buying spree occurred while the Fear & Greed Index sat at 9 out of 100, a reading classified as extreme fear.
BlackRock holds roughly $53.39B in Bitcoin across approximately 783,290 tokens, according to Arkham's real-time wallet dashboard.
That figure was up from 764,930 tokens valued at $50.38B on Feb. 28.
The roughly 19,000 BTC increase reflects net inflows during a stretch marked by rising oil prices, investor panic and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Bitcoin traded at $66,800, up 0.8% on the day. The total crypto market cap rose 0.7% to more than $2.3 trillion.
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Larry Fink's Digital Asset Portfolio
In total, the Larry Fink-led firm held $58.78B in digital assets, split primarily between Bitcoin at $52.54B and Ethereum at $6.25B. The portfolio also contains small amounts of various other tokens, though those were not purchased by the firm.
Holders of smaller projects routinely send tokens to high-profile wallets as a publicity tactic.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder, has long dealt with a similar practice. He is known for batch-selling unsolicited tokens and directing the proceeds to charity.
BlackRock has not adopted that approach, and its wallet still holds tokens such as SPX, JOE, SBET, MOG and others.
Ethereum represented the other major position BlackRock actively grew. The firm added nearly $400M in ETH since the conflict began, bringing its holdings to just over 3 million tokens.
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