On Thursday, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with assets under management worth more than $14T, sent more than $300M in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to Coinbase. The mammoth exchange deposit has sparked sell-off concerns in the market.
BlackRock deposits huge amounts of BTC, ETH to Coinbase
According to data from blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, BlackRock has deposited 3,581 BTC worth $284.62M. Similarly, the asset manager deposited 9,876 ETH, valued at $22.29M, according to prevailing market prices.
The following screenshot confirms the transactions, showing multiple transactions from BlackRock’s IBIT spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) to Coinbase Prime. Although the transfers have ignited some concerns, it may also just be routine operational transactions.
Regardless, it would be prudent to observe the following movement of these funds. A major development occurred last week, when a crypto wallet associated with the U.S. government sent 3.23 ETH to Coinbase Prime.
Similarly, two major ETH whales – wallets holding more than 10,000 ETH coins – sent a total of 41,000 ETH to Binance on May 7. While such a big transfer temporarily raised market uncertainty, it failed to have any meaningful negative impact on the digital asset’s price.
Majority institutions stacking digital assets
While BlackRock depositing BTC and ETH to Coinbase might raise some suspicion about the institutional stance toward cryptocurrencies, the majority of such entities are quietly accumulating.
For instance, JPMorgan recently launched their second tokenized money market on the Ethereum blockchain. The market is reportedly going to facilitate trade of assets backed by the U.S. Treasuries and repurchase agreements.
As far as Bitcoin is concerned, the premier cryptocurrency continues to enjoy high interest from Wall Street titans. Morgan Stanley’s newly launched spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) has already scooped more than $195M in total net inflows.
However, all is not hunky-dory for Bitcoin. Leading crypto wallet firm Exodus revealed in its 21 2026 filings with the U.S. SEC that it had slashed its total BTC holdings by 63 percent over the last quarter.
