Is the big pump of Bitcoin an illusion? BlackRock's 100 billion dollars reveals the truth about Wall Street's "relocation".

In October 2025, the world's largest asset management giant BlackRock saw its IBIT Bitcoin Spot ETF scale surpass 100 billion USD, which is equivalent to more than half of the volume of global gold ETFs, marking Wall Street's official embrace of Bitcoin. Institutions and ETFs collectively hold 6-8% of the total Bitcoin in circulation, with corporate finance departments increasing their holdings by 245,000 BTC in the first half of the year.

BlackRock's historic breakthrough of 100 billion USD ETF

(Source: CoinMarketCap)

In October 2025, one of the largest asset management companies in the world, BlackRock, saw its IBIT Bitcoin Spot ETF manage assets exceeding $100 billion. How astonishing is this figure? It is equivalent to more than half the volume of global gold ETFs. It is worth noting that gold ETFs have been developed for over 20 years, while Bitcoin ETFs only received approval from the US SEC in early 2024.

An ETF, or “Exchange-Traded Fund,” can be understood as a “basket of assets.” Buying a gold ETF means you don’t have to go to a jewelry store to buy gold bars, and buying a Bitcoin ETF means you don’t have to open a crypto wallet to indirectly own Bitcoin. This design lowers the threshold for traditional investors to enter the crypto market, allowing institutional funds such as pensions, insurance companies, and family offices to compliantly allocate Bitcoin.

This ETF marks the formal embrace of Bitcoin by Wall Street. In the past, Wall Street's attitude towards Bitcoin was one of skepticism, caution, and even hostility. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has publicly criticized Bitcoin as a “scam” multiple times. But now, the world's largest asset management company is voting for Bitcoin with real money. 100 billion dollars is no small amount; it exceeds the foreign exchange reserves of many countries and is equivalent to the GDP of some medium-sized countries.

By October 2025, the asset management scale of IBIT ETF will exceed 100 billion USD, with institutions and ETFs collectively holding 6% to 8% of the total Bitcoin in circulation. Corporate finance departments increased their holdings by 245,000 Bitcoins in the first half of the year. What do these numbers indicate? This is not retail investors chasing the market, but rather global financial giants restructuring their asset portfolios. They are quietly incorporating Bitcoin into the mainstream financial system.

The whale paradox has been quietly solved, borrowing money without paying taxes

For a long time, there has been a “paradox” in the Bitcoin world: either maintain sovereignty (self-custody) or obtain liquidity (ability to cash out), both cannot be achieved simultaneously. Many early “Bitcoin whales” (as they are referred to in the industry) hold thousands or even tens of thousands of coins. Whales refer to individuals or institutions that hold a large amount of Bitcoin (usually over 1000 coins), and their trading actions often influence market fluctuations.

These whales face two awkward choices: Want to sell? You have to pay about 40% capital gains tax. Don’t sell? Then you can only “lie in a cold wallet,” doing nothing. However, BlackRock's new mechanism has unlocked this lock. These whales can now “transfer Bitcoin into an ETF” instead of “selling.”

Three Major Advantages of the New Mechanism:

No Tax Payment Required: Transferring into an ETF does not count as a sale, avoiding up to 40% capital gains tax.

Use assets as collateral to borrow money: Pledge ETF shares to the bank to obtain liquidity.

On-chain can still prove that Bitcoin belongs to them: Retaining proof of ownership and asset control.

In summary, in the past, it was either about paying taxes or being passive, but now you can hold coins and earn money at the same time. A mortgage is taking an asset as collateral to borrow money; for example, if you have a house, you can mortgage it to the bank, and the bank will give you a loan. Now, Bitcoin can also play the role of a “house.”

For example, in the past, when you took out a loan, you had to use a house or stocks as collateral. Now you can use Bitcoin as collateral. When you borrow dollars against Bitcoin, the borrowed money will slowly depreciate due to inflation, but Bitcoin may still appreciate. Therefore, wealthy individuals do not sell their Bitcoin because “borrowing money is actually more cost-effective.” This strategy is known as “exchanging assets for cash flow” in traditional finance, and now Bitcoin whales can use it too.

Decentralization meets Wall Street, asset migration is happening

We often say “Bitcoin is decentralized,” meaning it does not rely on any government or bank. But now, Wall Street is doing something smarter – bringing decentralized assets into centralized systems. This is not a compromise of Bitcoin, but an innovative fusion of the two systems. Bitcoin still retains its technical decentralization features, but through ETFs and custodial mechanisms, it has gained a passport to enter the mainstream financial system.

This change is not just a financial experiment; its impact may be greater than expected. El Salvador has adopted Bitcoin as its national currency, some sanctioned countries are beginning to use cryptocurrencies to bypass the dollar payment system, and some central banks are researching “digital reserves.” In the future, reserve assets may no longer be limited to the dollar, but could include Bitcoin.

Reserve currency refers to the main currencies that central banks of various countries use for reserves, settlement, and stabilizing exchange rates, such as the US Dollar and the Euro. If Bitcoin can also enter central bank reserves in the future, it will be a historic turning point. This means that the foundation of the monetary system is being rewritten little by little. The quantity of Bitcoin is written into the code, with a total of only 21 million coins, it will not be overprinted or devalued, which is why it is called “digital gold.”

Two Future Directions and the True Revolution

There are likely two possible directions in the future. In an optimistic scenario where integration goes smoothly, the proportion of institutional holdings continues to rise, with Bitcoin prices breaking through 250,000 USD, becoming a new collateral layer for sovereign debt systems. In a conservative scenario where regulatory backlash occurs, tax authorities redefine the rules, considering transfers to ETFs as taxable, with custodial risks and regulatory capture emerging, and the self-custody “decentralized” model resurging.

Regardless of the outcome, this experiment is answering a century-old question: can mathematical scarcity coexist with the financial system? BlackRock's $100 billion is not betting on the rise of Bitcoin prices, but rather paving the way for a future reset of the debt system. What they are exchanging is “collateral”—changing trust from “government credit” to “mathematically proven scarcity.”

So, this is not “Bitcoin is here,” but rather the entire financial world is “changing its underlying logic.” The real revolution is not in the coin price, but in the system. This is not a speculation, but an “asset migration.” Bitcoin is no longer just a game in the coin circle; it is becoming the underlying “hard currency” of Wall Street. The world has already changed; it's just that most people haven't realized it.