Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have become BlackRock’s most profitable product line, a development that came as “a big surprise” to the company, Cristiano Castro, director of business development at BlackRock Brazil, tod local media.

At the Blockchain Conference in Sao Paulo, Castro told reporters on the sidelines of the event on November 28, that the performance had surpassed the firm’s expectations.

“We were very optimistic when we launched, but we didn’t believe it would reach such proportions,” Castro said. “Just to give you an idea, [IBIT in the US and IBIT39 in Brazil] are coming very close to US$100 billion [in allocation].”

BlackRock currently has at least three bitcoin-linked ETFs and financial prod

ucts active. Its flagship product is the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), a US-listed spot bitcoin ETF launched in January 2024 that seeks to reflect the performance of bitcoin’s price. IBIT had promotional concessions at launch, with the first US$5 billion in assets charged at a reduced fee of 0.12%. The fee has since increased to 0.25%.

iShares Bitcoin Trust BDR (IBIT39) is BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF i0

n Brazil, and the country’s first bitcoin-linked ETF. Launched in March 2024, IBIT39 is structured as a Brazilian Depositary Receipt (BDR), providing institutional and retail investors with exposure to the US-listed IBIT. Similarly to IBIT, IBIT39 charged an initial management fee of 0.25%, which decreased to 0.12% once the fund surpasses US$5 billion in assets.

In Europe, BlackRock offers the iShares Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) (IB1T) for local investors. The product began trading in March 2025 on major European exchanges, including Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam, and Euronext Paris. It debuted with total expense ratio (TER) of 0.15%, which is set to increase to 0.25% starting January 01, 2027, when the temporary fee waiver ends.

Fastest-growing ETFs in history

BlackRock’s bitcoin ETFs have experienced significant success. Its US-listed IBIT became the fastest ETF in history to reach US$70 billion in assets, doing so in 341 days, according to CoinDesk.

Momentum has continued, with the ETF now sitting at more than US$72 billion in net assets and standing as the biggest spot bitcoin ETF in the US, according to SoSoValue data. IBIT generates an estimated US$245 million in annual fees.

In Europe, where BlackRock launched its spot bitcoin much more recently, volumes are still modest at about EUR 590 million (US$689 million) in assets under management (AUM).

According to Arkham Intelligence, BlackRock is now the fourth-largest crypto holder by total on-chain value with around US$100 billion worth of crypto assets. BlackRock is surpassed by Binance, Coinbase and Satoshi Nakamoto, the only three bigger entities.

As of mid-2025, IBIT held about 700,000 BTC, corresponding to roughly 3% of the total circulating supply of bitcoin at the time. BlackRock also holds nearly US$16 billion in ether, and its Ethereum ETF, ETHA, was also the third-fastest ETF to reach the US$10 billion mark.

These figures make BlackRock the biggest asset management company in terms of crypto holdings by value. The next largest on the list is Fidelity, with nearly US$50 billion in crypto holdings.

BlackRock is the world’s biggest asset management company in the world with US$11 trillion in AUM as of the end of 2024, while Fidelity is the third biggest with US$5.9 trillion of AUM.

History of crypto structured products

Although the crypto market started seeing the first structured investment products about a decade ago, the launch of the first US spot bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 marked a watershed moment for the sector.

These regulated investment funds, which are traded on traditional securities exchanges, allow investors to gain exposure to bitcoin without directly owning the cryptocurrency. They operate by allowing investors to buy shares that represent ownership in actual bitcoins held by the fund.

Since these instruments are traded on exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Nasdaq, they provide broad access to retail and institutional investors, giving cryptocurrencies mainstream legitimacy and exposure.

Bitcoin investment products started appearing in the early 2010s. One of the first exchange-traded notes (ETNs), Bitcoin Tracker One, was listed on Nasdaq Stockholm in 2015. This was followed in 2017 with the launch of the Ethereum Tracker One.

In Switzerland, the first crypto ETPs emerged in 2018, with 21Shares pioneering the world’s first physically backed ETP. Today, the company offers more than 40 ETPs, covering bitcoin, ether, altcoins such as litecoin, Cardano, and Polkadot, decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens, as well as metaverse-related crypto baskets.

Earlier, in 2013, Grayscale created the Bitcoin Investment Trust, with shares publicly traded over-the-counter (OTC). In January 2024, the trust was re-registered and relabeled as an ETF after approval by the US regulator.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by wombatzaa via Freepik