2024 was a massive turning point for crypto. After years of regulatory back and forth, a few of the biggest asset managers in the world were allowed to offer spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-trade
2024 was a massive turning point for crypto. After years of regulatory back and forth, a few of the biggest asset managers in the world were allowed to offer spot Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Among them was BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world's largest asset management company. The launch of its iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, or IBIT, came as a green signal for traditional investors who wanted to explore cryptocurrencies but did not know how or where.
A Bitcoin ETF allows people to bet on Bitcoin's price without buying or storing the cryptocurrency themselves.
As recently as mid-2025, the average IBIT holder was up roughly 30%, per Bespoke data cited by Bloomberg. But after the flash crash of October 2025, Bitcoin's slide has flipped that gain into a steep loss.
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The typical investor in BlackRock's IBIT is now down about 40%, according to Bespoke Investment Group. This is a stark sign of how hard 2026's crypto selloff has hit the everyday buyers who got their Bitcoin exposure through the largest U.S. spot crypto ETF.
The figure measures the average buyer's entry price against Bitcoin today instead of a single-day drop. It reflects how far underwater the typical position sits, and those are paper losses until investors actually sell.
Nate Geraci of NovaDius Wealth Management called it "a brutal intro to btc for mainstream investors."
Bespoke analysts were blunt, adding that "those assets are hurting" and describing the funds so far as an "absolute disaster for investors." But they also noted that a fresh rally could still rewrite the story.
iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) over the years since 2024 SoSo Value
The damage shows in the fund itself. IBIT has pulled in $60.77 billion since launch but holds just $44.42 billion in net assets, per SoSoValue. That's roughly a $16 billion gap, driven largely by Bitcoin's price drop.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs bled about $1.79 billion in the week ending Friday, June 26. This is their heaviest weekly outflow since launch, trailing only late February 2025's $2.61 billion exodus.
BlackRock's IBIT drove Friday's whole outflowSoSo Value
Moreover, Friday's $444.51 million outflow came entirely from IBIT, extending the daily losing streak to seven sessions. It was also the funds' seventh straight negative week, the longest such run on record.
The selling has coincided with a more hawkish Federal Reserve, which held rates on June 18 and cut its easing language. Higher rates tend to pull money out of risky bets like crypto. Traders now see better-than-even odds of a December rate hike.
At press time, Bitcoin was trading near $60,423, after climbing 1.1% in the past 24 hours.
