BlackRock Cuts IBIT In-Kind Bitcoin Exchange Minimum to $1 Million

BlackRock has lowered the minimum size for in-kind Bitcoin exchanges into its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), cutting the threshold from $25 million to $1 million for eligible investors. The mechanism allows investors to swap Bitcoin for IBIT shares, but the transactions are executed through authorized participants rather than directly with BlackRock. Digital assets head Robbie Mitchnick said the firm's longer-term goal is to eliminate the minimum requirement altogether. Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas reported the change after speaking with Mitchnick, noting that the new $1 million floor replaces the previous $25 million requirement for in-kind creations and redemptions. Mitchnick added that in-kind activity remains a minority of overall Bitcoin ETF flows, with most inflows still arriving as cash subscriptions, even as in-kind usage has increased since regulators permitted the structure. Mitchnick also addressed the recent Coldcard wallet hack in a Bloomberg interview, characterizing it as a security failure rather than a breach of the Bitcoin network. He said vulnerabilities stemming from errors are best viewed as wallet- or service-level security management issues. He added that Bitcoin ETFs provide price exposure without requiring investors to manage private keys, and said BlackRock has not observed widespread panic among ETF holders during Bitcoin's recent decline, describing the investor base as oriented toward long-term holding. On flows, Bitcoin ETFs recorded about $1 billion in weekly inflows based on the supplied figures. Farside data showed roughly $865 million entered U.S. spot Bitcoin funds over the period. IBIT led with $693.5 million, outpacing Fidelity's FBTC, which drew $116.5 million. Mitchnick also discussed BITA, BlackRock's Bitcoin premium-income ETF, saying it targets mid-to-high-teens yield with reduced volatility, though he expects it to grow more slowly than IBIT. He added that Bitcoin has gone through five major boom-and-bust cycles and pointed to its recent decoupling from equities in the context of diversification.