Crypto: BlackRock predicts billions of dollars more in its crypto ETFs

Fear does business well. On November 9, the WatcherGuru account relayed a forecast attributed to BlackRock. The management giant expects security concerns to push billions of dollars already invested in crypto into its ETFs. A projection that comes as attacks against wallets multiply.

The key points of this article:

The WatcherGuru account relayed a forecast from BlackRock on November 9 without an identified speaker.

The manager is waiting for security to push billions held in crypto into its ETFs.

In its IBIT bitcoin ETF, keys are entrusted to Coinbase Custody and kept offline.

ETF shares do not allow you to send or receive bitcoins on the blockchain.

Fear of piracy as a commercial argument

The WatcherGuru post attributes the forecast to BlackRock without citing an interlocutor or source document, and there is nothing to confirm it beyond this relay.

The same message mentions the manager's $15,000 billion in assets. This sum represents the scale of the firm; it does not represent any crypto commitment.

An investor actually makes two distinct decisions, detailed in an analysis published on November 9: owning exposure to cryptos, and managing their coins themselves.

The fear of piracy can change the second decision without affecting the first, the desire for exposure remains intact and only the way of holding changes. It’s the passage of the note under the mattress to the safe at the bank, a sort of change of guard more than of fortune.

This custody requires very real efforts: losing your recovery phrase blocks access to funds, disclosing it offers the same access to a thief.

Delegating these tasks relieves the investor who does not want to maintain their backup procedures, and it is this need that BlackRock would see turning to its funds.

A position which seems altogether curious. Indeed, American ETFs experienced large capital flight following the Binance hack. Indeed, the day after the hack, on October 30, $643 million in outflows were recorded on BTC ETFs.

What do we lose by entrusting our keys to an ETF?

The answer can be found in the documentation of IBIT, BlackRock's listed bitcoin fund. Its prospectus, dated July 31, 2025 and completed in November 2025, names Coinbase Custody Trust Company as custodian of the bitcoins.

The fund keeps the private keys of the custodial stock offline, in cold storage. A separate balance is used for market operations.

The investor buys and sells shares via his broker, without ever touching a wallet, and key management disappears from his daily life.

The counterpart appears in the same document. Shares provide a beneficial interest in a fund, not direct control of the bitcoins.

The prospectus warns that volatility can degrade the value of shares, and that compromised keys remain synonymous with permanent losses.

Another limitation is that ETF shares do not circulate on the blockchain, Blockstream points out, which prevents any sending or receiving of bitcoins.

Direct holding is transferred from wallet to wallet. The two formulas respond to different uses, even if their courses progress together.

The announced migration would not represent new money either. Buying existing shares and seeing the fund grow are two distinct phenomena. And bitcoin ETFs are already experiencing rotations, like when sovereign funds took the place of hedge funds.