BlackRock: Leverage Drives Bitcoin Crash, Not Fundamentals
BlackRock has published an updated report on Bitcoin's investment case following its roughly 50% slide from its October 2025 peak above $124,000 to cycle lows below $60,000 in June 2026.
The report, authored by digital assets heads Robert Mitchnick and Will Su, attributes the drawdown to leverage rather than any deterioration in Bitcoin's underlying story. According to BlackRock, futures open interest had swelled past $90 billion by early October, with roughly 80% of that sitting in offshore perpetual futures offering up to 125x leverage.
When the U.S. announced fresh China tariffs on Oct. 10, 2025, Bitcoin's open interest fell $20 billion in a single day, the largest drop on record.
The authors wrote: 'We view bitcoin’s ~50% pullback from October 2025 highs as a positioning correction rather than a change in its investment case.'