BlackRock calls bitcoin bottom as $853 million flows into spot ETFs

Bitcoin held near $64,343 on Monday after BlackRock's Robert Mitchnick said investor sentiment has turned, forecasting the price heads "significantly higher."

"We've seen sentiment turn in a noticeable, but subtle way the last month or so," Mitchnick, head of digital assets at BlackRock, said in a televised interview.

Bitcoin is down nearly 30 percent year-to-date and about 50 percent from a year ago, trading between roughly $60,000 and $65,000 for more than two months. Mitchnick pointed to bitcoin's July outperformance during the AI-driven equity pullback as evidence of the shift, calling the decoupling from stocks "healthy" because it supports bitcoin's role as a portfolio diversifier.

The call lands as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged their best inflow week since mid-April, drawing about $853.5 million in a five-session streak through Friday, with BlackRock's IBIT taking in $693.7 million — more than 80 percent of the total — and Fidelity's FBTC adding $116.4 million, according to SoSo Value data.

ETF flows pick up after Coldcard hack

The inflows followed the Coldcard wallet exploit, which reportedly resulted in the theft of more than $100 million in bitcoin from cold storage. Bloomberg Intelligence senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas said BlackRock's and Fidelity's funds and others had drawn inflows every day since the hack, making it "hard not to see causation in the correlation."

BlackRock's IBIT now holds almost 750,000 bitcoin worth just under $50 billion, making it the largest spot bitcoin fund. Bitcoin faces resistance near $65,000, a level it has failed to clear since early June, with support at $60,000 holding through the recent drawdown.

Five boom-and-bust cycles

Mitchnick said the current downturn fits a pattern of repeated boom-and-bust cycles. "There have been now five major boom and bust cycles," he said. "Each time, the cycle ends with the bitcoin price significantly higher, but with a bumpy ride along the way."

The decoupling from equities, which hurt bitcoin earlier in the year as AI stocks rallied, now works in its favor as a hedge against "left-tail risks" in investor portfolios, Mitchnick said. With ETF investors characterized as "fundamental, long-term, buy-and-hold," sustained inflows could support bitcoin's next leg higher even as it trades well below its October 2025 peak.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.