How industry giants rewrote the rules of the crypto world in three days: BlackRock's buy-buy-buy storm

The largest asset management company on Wall Street, BlackRock, recently made a shocking move in the spot market. In just ten minutes, it absorbed 300 Bitcoins and 16,000 Ethereum from Coinbase in one go. Over three days, this giant with $13 trillion in assets accumulated a total of 4,200 BTC and 83,000 ETH, injecting nearly $600 million into the market.

This is not ordinary institutional sweeping but a systematic spot accumulation. BlackRock’s logic is straightforward: the amount of shares it sells to clients in the Bitcoin ETF must be backed by an equivalent amount of real coins in the spot market. Currently, its Bitcoin ETF scale has exceeded $110 billion, and Ethereum ETF has surged to $18 billion, meaning every client purchase triggers a round of spot market buying.

The spot market is experiencing unprecedented scarcity

Data shows that Bitcoin on exchanges has evaporated by 220,000 coins over the past six months, and Ethereum is similarly locked in staking reserves. Institutional continuous buying is changing the entire market’s supply structure. If institutions make two more rounds of such acquisitions, by Q4, the market could very likely see an extreme situation of “rising with inventory”—because there simply isn’t enough spot supply to meet demand.

Why Ethereum has become the institution’s favorite

Ethereum staking offers an annual yield close to 5%, and with the EIP-1559 mechanism continuously burning tokens, this combination appears more attractive than traditional bonds in Wall Street’s eyes. BlackRock even uses a $3 billion tokenized fund as the core asset allocation engine for Ethereum. This is no longer just a narrative in the crypto world but a traditional financial asset allocation logic.

What’s even more shocking is that BlackRock currently controls about 10% of the total Ethereum supply worldwide. An institution holding such a share means that any position adjustment will directly impact the price trend. When you see large transfers on-chain, it’s no longer a sell-off signal but institutions settling their ETF positions.

The collision of decentralization ideals and reality

This change has raised concerns from Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin. He publicly expressed worries on social media: if institutions continue to lock Ethereum into staking reserves, the protocol’s governance structure will inevitably face changes, and the core concept of “decentralization” may gradually fade.

The once retail-dominated crypto playground is quietly transforming into an institutional yield farm. Institutions are not here to hype but to allocate assets, earn yields, and manage risks.

Two key moments in the future

The market is approaching two potential points of intense volatility:

First, once BlackRock’s Ethereum staking ETF is approved, the new buying pressure will directly trigger scarcity in the spot market.

Second, the real implementation of Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions supporting yield functions will lead institutions to stake Bitcoin assets similarly, sparking a new wave of “buying frenzy.”

The entry of institutional funds is not a crisis but a sign of market maturity. But for retail investors used to narratives, the rules have indeed changed. From now on, keeping an eye on institutional moves is more important than chasing any single coin.

Data reference - Current market (2025-12-16)

• BTC: $87.76K (+1.45%)
• ETH: $2.95K (-0.47%)
• SOL: $127.94 (+1.65%)