BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) crossed $80 billion in assets under management on Friday for the first time, taking in $1.8 billion of net inflows over the past five trading sessions as institutional allocators resumed Bitcoin buying following the Iran ceasefire announcement. The fund's assets have grown by $14.6 billion year-to-date despite Bitcoin's mid-February drawdown.
IBIT is now the second-fastest-growing ETF in U.S. history measured by time-to-AUM, trailing only the SPDR Gold Shares fund's 2004 launch trajectory adjusted for inflation. BlackRock's combined Bitcoin product suite, which includes IBIT and the recently launched leveraged versions on European exchanges, now manages approximately $87 billion globally.
Pension Funds Drive Latest Wave
BlackRock's most recent 13F filing revealed that 24 U.S. state and corporate pension funds added IBIT positions in Q1, including the State of Wisconsin Investment Board ($420 million), the Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund ($210 million), and the New Jersey Division of Investment which disclosed an initial $185 million allocation. Cumulative pension fund AUM in Bitcoin ETFs has reached $4.8 billion across 81 institutional holders.
Endowments have also been notable buyers. Yale University's endowment confirmed in its annual report a 1.2% portfolio allocation to digital assets via IBIT, joining Harvard, Brown, MIT, and Princeton in disclosing material exposure. The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company, which holds $77 billion across both endowments, disclosed a 0.8% IBIT position valued at approximately $620 million.