BlackRock Head of Digital Assets on Bitcoin ETFs: ‘The flows are back in a big way’

While the money has started flowing back into the Bitcoin ETFs, the type of money is switching from retail to institutional, according to BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets, Robert Mitchnick.

“The flows are back in a big way,” said Mitchnick in a panel discussion at Token2049 in Dubai. 

Mitchnick said that when the ETFs were launched, the initial flows were predominantly from retail customers, including high-net-worth individuals with positions of $100 million or more. However, he noted that every quarter the percentage held by retail clients has gone down while the percentage held by institutional and wealth advisory clients has gone up. It’s a longer time cycle for those groups to adopt, he said, claiming it wasn’t a flip-the-switch situation. 

Mitchnick was speaking as part of a panel discussion at Token2049 in Dubai. The other panelists were VanEck CEO Jan Van Eck and Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, with Eric Balchunas, Senior ETF Analyst at Bloomberg, as the moderator.

When Balchunas put forward the suggestion that Bitcoin had moved from weak hands to stronger hands, namely ETF holders and Michael Saylor (via Strategy), Mitchnick said it was a good theory, but there was more to it. He claimed that the idea that Bitcoin is effectively a leveraged beta to tech stocks in the US doesn’t make any fundamental sense. However, he said that if something is repeated often enough, it can become self-fulfilling.

Mitchnick said that investors looking for such leveraged beta don’t need Bitcoin in their portfolio. But if it behaves like a safe haven, or a hedge that’s not tied to the monetary risks of any particular country, then they might think they need it in their portfolio. He observed that there was a day when concerns arose that Bitcoin was being used as a form of leverage beta, but that the “flow machine came back in a way we’ve barely seen since the ETFs launched.”

When asked about altcoin ETFs, Mitchnick said that altcoins are a different investment proposition. While Bitcoin is a potential hedge or portfolio diversifier, that doesn't apply to the rest of crypto, he argued. "That’s going to sit in a portfolio very differently," he said. "For now, the interest is still overwhelmingly Bitcoin."

As for the idea that new SEC Chair Paul Atkins will start allowing new ETFs or new aspects of ETFs, like in-kind redemptions, Mitchnick expressed caution. "Those who think ‘everything goes’ will be disappointed," he said, claiming that a regulatory framework will be put in place that could make some things more difficult than before.