BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said that more than 90% of Bitcoin ETF investors, including retail, financial advisors and institutions, have followed a sustainable accumulation strategy.
Speaking to CNBC today, Mitchnick said that retail investors are “some of the most long-term oriented” and tend to “buy short” when markets are down, while hedge funds account for a smaller share of tactical trading activity.
“The only part of the demand base where we see a short-term trend is the 10 or so percent that is actually hedge funds,” Mitchnick said when asked what the ETF trend indicates about the behavior of crypto investors.
He added that these investors used a variety of trading strategies, such as fundamental trading, going long in spot ETFs and shorting futures contracts. These trades are largely market neutral, but can create temporary inflows or outflows in ETF data.
“But the other 90-plus percent of the investor base,” Mitchnick noted, “has been a very steady trend and has been consistently on the way to accumulation.”
He noted that despite the decline in Bitcoin prices, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, IBIT, was among the top-grossing ETFs worldwide in 2025, attracting nearly $26 billion and ranking fourth worldwide in terms of earnings, even as assets posted negative returns.
“There is clearly selling pressure elsewhere in the Bitcoin ecosystem, on crypto exchanges, on these offshore leveraged platforms,” Mitchnick said. “But the ETF investor base has taken a more stable, long-term view of things.”
Bitcoin and Ether dominate demand for crypto ETFs
Commenting on investor demand for crypto assets, Mitchnick reiterated that it is focused on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
While BlackRock sees interest in other crypto assets, it is taking a “very smart approach” to expanding crypto offerings within its iShares ETF.
“We will continue to evaluate them as conditions evolve and evolve with maturity, liquidity scale and use cases,” he said.
Staking is changing the economics of Ether ETFs
This week, the leading asset manager launched ETHB, a stake-enabled Ether ETF. According to Farside Investors, the fund generated more than $43 million in net income in its trading debut.
Previously, Ethereum ETFs did not earn staking rewards and did not allow investors to participate in the network’s real income.
The new structure addresses this limitation and adds a revenue component, which many portfolio distributors see as a meaningful incentive and a factor that can help bridge the gap in Bitcoin product adoption.
Despite the cap, BlackRock’s flagship Ethereum ETF, ETHA, became the third-fastest ETF to reach $10 billion in assets under management, behind only IBIT and FBTC.
With the introduction of staking derivatives, the company expects ETHB to become the dominant ETF vehicle for Ether exposure.
Mitchnick called the fund a silver bullet for investors looking for decent exposure.
