In a notable development for the traditional finance sector, Blackstone has made its first-ever investment in cryptocurrency by purchasing shares in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
This move, disclosed in a May 20 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), marks a cautious but significant step into the crypto space for Blackstone.
🌟 In Focus: @blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, has revealed its first $BTC investment. As of March 31, it held 23,094 shares of the iShares #Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), according to a recent filing.$IBIT #BTC #CryptoTale pic.twitter.com/hsBom4gIMo
— Crypto Tale (@cryptotalemedia) May 21, 2025
As of March 31, Blackstone reported holding 23,094 shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT), valued at approximately $1.08 million. This investment was included in Blackstone’s Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), which manages assets totaling $2.63 billion. While $1.08 million is a modest sum relative to Blackstone’s massive $1.2 trillion portfolio, it signals a growing institutional interest in cryptocurrency products.
In addition to the IBIT shares, Blackstone’s filing revealed smaller crypto-related purchases: 4,300 shares of Bitcoin Depot Inc., a crypto ATM operator, costing about $6,300, and 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO) for $181,166.
Historically, Blackstone has been cautious about cryptocurrencies. In 2019, CEO Steve Schwarzman expressed skepticism about crypto’s role as money, emphasizing the need for control over currencies. He admitted at the time that he found the technology difficult to understand and was not particularly interested in crypto investments.
Despite this, Blackstone’s diverse portfolio spans private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, hedge funds, and insurance solutions, with $37 billion in investable capital as of March 31, 2025.
BlackRock’s IBIT has experienced strong inflows since its January 2024 launch. According to Farside Investors’ data, the fund has not seen outflows since April 9 and has enjoyed a 20-trading-day streak of inflows, accumulating over $46.1 billion in net inflows to date. This far surpasses similar Bitcoin ETFs like Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARK), which have net inflows of $11.8 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively.
Interestingly, while Blackstone is entering the market, other institutional investors like the Wisconsin Investment Board have moved in the opposite direction. The board liquidated its entire 6,060,351 IBIT shares, worth $3.7 billion, during Q1 2025.
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