BlackRock’s $405.3M IBIT Exit: The Coins Left, but the Custodian Stayed Put 🪙

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) recorded a $405.3 million net outflow on November 2, fueling claims on X that the asset manager was selling $BTC. The redemption came from clients rather than BlackRock’s own trading desk, with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds releasing coins when investors redeem shares and the fund’s holdings fall in line with its reduced share count.

IBIT’s exit was its largest single-day outflow since June 26, according to Farside Investors, while total US spot Bitcoin ETF flows reached negative $398.6 million. Fidelity’s FBTC was the only fund to post inflows, attracting $6.7 million. Whale Insider framed the IBIT withdrawal as a BlackRock sale on November 3, 2026, but redemptions still place redeemed $BTC on the market.

The reversal followed $410.6 million in IBIT inflows across four sessions between October 26 and October 29. Including Friday’s $233.7 million outflow, IBIT shed $639 million over two sessions, while withdrawals across all funds topped $1.04 billion. Selling began a day after the $6.36 billion Binance hack, which TRM Labs attributed to TraderTraitor, a North Korean hacking unit; the theft included 18,270 $BTC drained from a Binance hot wallet.

Additional pressure came from caution before the November 3 US midterm elections and a sell-off in tech stocks. The outflows remain modest compared with IBIT’s $65.9 billion in cumulative net inflows since its January 2024 launch, though the fund earns a 0.25% annual fee on IBIT assets, making redemptions a reduction in fee revenue as well as a transfer of $BTC from the trust to investors.