IBIT's Meteoric Rise: Redefining Investment Paradigms
In the annals of investing, gold has long held its position as the quintessential safe-haven asset. However, 2024 marked a seismic shift. On January 10, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs, including those from powerhouses like BlackRock and Fidelity. This triggered a capital migration towards more dynamic digital assets.
Now, standing in 2025, it’s clear that BlackRock’s IBIT is the victor. In less than two years, it has achieved what gold ETFs (GLD) took over a decade to accomplish. The latest Q3 earnings data reveals a remarkable shift in asset allocation from “old gold” to “new gold,” with major institutions, from Harvard University to Middle Eastern royal families, allocating capital towards Bitcoin.
What is IBIT?
The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is a spot Bitcoin ETF launched by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager. This ETF addresses key pain points for traditional investors: compliance and convenience. IBIT allows investors to hold Bitcoin assets custodied 1:1 by BlackRock without registering on complex crypto exchanges or worrying about losing private keys. This “securitization” has allowed IBIT to outpace gold ETFs.
- Trillion-Dollar Milestone: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink recently announced that IBIT’s assets under management (AUM) officially surpassed $100 billion.
- Speed Comparison: It took GLD over a decade to reach this size, while IBIT achieved it in less than two years.
This milestone underscores the immense institutional appetite for digital assets.
Harvard's and Royal Families' Decisions
While retail buying may be attributed to sentiment, major institutional buys reflect considered strategies. The Q3 2025 13F filings reveal compelling insights.
1. Harvard University: Favoring the Faster-Growing Asset
Harvard University is known for its conservative endowment investing. As of September 30, Harvard held both GLD and IBIT.
- GLD Holdings: Valued at $235 million, up 98% quarter-over-quarter.
- IBIT Holdings: Valued at $443 million, down 257% quarter-over-quarter.
Notably, Harvard’s IBIT holdings exceed its holdings in Nvidia stock ($109 million) by a factor of four. This indicates Bitcoin is viewed as a more core asset than popular tech stocks.
2. Middle Eastern Royal Families: Bitcoin as a Store of Value
The Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC) increased its IBIT stake to nearly 8 million shares in Q3, valued at an estimated $518 million, a threefold increase from the previous quarter. This move reflects a broader vision, with ADIC stating it “views Bitcoin as a store of value akin to gold.” For sovereign wealth funds seeking intergenerational wealth transfer, this represents a hedge against future monetary systems.
3. Asian Whales: Consistent Increase
In parallel, the Li Lin Family Office, Avenir Group, has increased its holdings for five consecutive quarters, with current IBIT holdings valued at approximately $1.2 billion, making it the largest institutional holder in Asia. These collective actions by major institutions prove that crypto is no longer just “speculation” but a destination for global capital. IBIT represents the best embodiment of this global consensus.
A Milestone in Market Structure
In addition to the explosive growth in size and holdings, the market structure itself has seen significant upgrades. Historically, the Bitcoin derivatives market was dominated by Deribit, a platform primarily serving crypto-native users and traders. However, BlackRock IBIT’s open interest in option contracts ($38 billion) officially surpassed Deribit ($32 billion) last week. This milestone demonstrates that traditional financial institutions and large professional investors are entering the Bitcoin market at scale and speed via regulated instruments.
This deep integration means that Bitcoin assets enjoy unprecedented liquidity, greatly enhancing market maturity and transparency.
Surpassing Gold
IBIT took less than two years to reach a scale that gold ETFs took over a decade to achieve, but that is merely a superficial reflection. The true superiority over GLD lies in the structural advantages IBIT offers.
- Yield Advantage: While annual returns on traditional safe-haven assets like GLD typically remain stable at single-digit figures, Bloomberg analysts point out that IBIT, even after price corrections, has maintained an annualized return approaching 80% since its launch in 2024. This demonstrates that IBIT offers both the allocation characteristics of a safe-haven and the explosive potential of a growing asset.
- Flow Resilience: Traditional gold ETFs often experience outflows during periods of falling prices. However, as SoSoValue data shows, IBIT recorded net inflows of $224 million in a single day even during periods of price volatility. This resilience is a sign that global institutions view IBIT as a long-term strategic allocation.
On January 10, 2024, the SEC approval toppled the first domino. In 2025, IBIT with its $100 billion scale has proven the inevitability of this wealth shift. Gold remains a stable ballast, but in 2025, Bitcoin is becoming the nuclear-powered speedboat. A new era of digital assets driven by global capital consensus has officially begun.
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