BlackRock Transfers $150M BTC to Coinbase Prime, Sparking Fears of a Potential Sell-off

Recently, the volatility in Bitcoin's price has increased investor anxiety, with many watching monitoring the events that could affect the market.

Recently, the volatility in Bitcoin’s price has increased investor anxiety, with many watching closely to monitor the events that could affect the market. A key development is BlackRock’s transfer of Bitcoin and Ethereum to Coinbase Prime, which has sparked fears of a potential sell-off.

ALERT: BLACKROCK SELLING BTCRemarkable outflows as BlackRock has transferred $150M BTC to Coinbase Prime.

These are outflows from the IBIT Bitcoin ETF. pic.twitter.com/GoruDylqdk

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BlackRock, which is a major asset custodian and the issuer of the IBIT Bitcoin ETF, recently transferred assets to Coinbase Prime. Among the transferred assets are 1,800 BTC, valued at around $160 million, and 18,168 ETH, valued at about $44 million. In total, the assets transferred amounted to $204 million.

Typically, such large transfers of assets to exchanges signal potential asset sales, which could explain the decline in Bitcoin’s price to $88,300. However, experts caution that the transfer may not necessarily signal a sell-off by BlackRock.

As a custodian, BlackRock manages assets for ETF investors without engaging in direct trading activities. According to Shapeshift Capital's analysis, these transfers are more likely part of regular fund management, like portfolio rebalancing or handling investor redemptions.

Moreover, the Bitcoin ETF market faced major outflows in one day, with investors pulling $937.9 million from the ETFs. Among the affected ETFs are Fidelity’s FBTC ETF, which saw outflows of $344.7 million, and BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, which faced outflows of $164.4 million.

With BlackRock holding 584,789 BTC, which is about 2.6% of the total supply, any potential sell-off by the firm could have a significant impact on the market.

Despite the rumors of a potential sell-off and the major outflows from the Bitcoin ETFs, it’s important to note that BlackRock continues to be a strong proponent of Bitcoin.

Recently, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink predicted that Bitcoin could reach $700,000 if sovereign wealth funds invest in it. While there is certainly uncertainty in the market, there’s no clear sign that BlackRock is selling its Bitcoin. Instead, the recent activity seems to be in line with the firm’s routine fund management, and there’s no indication that they are planning to exit the crypto market entirely.

Recently, the price of Bitcoin fell below the $90,000 mark, continuing a decline from its peak of $109,000. According to Geoff Kendrick from Standard Chartered, the price drop may also be linked to outflows from U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Besides, Arthur Hayes, the co-founder of BitMEX, has suggested that the price of Bitcoin could drop back to levels between $70,000 and $75,000, which were seen before the U.S. elections. He believes this scenario could unfold if former President Donald Trump does not succeed in passing his proposed budget, which includes plans for increased government spending and raising the debt ceiling.