BlackRock Lowers Barrier for Crypto Wealth to Flow onto Wall Street

Wall Street is making it easier for investors to move their Bitcoin wealth into mainstream finance. BlackRock Inc. has reduced the minimum size for in-kind transactions from $25 million to $1 million, allowing more investors to swap large crypto holdings for shares in exchange-traded funds.

This process allows investors to retain exposure to Bitcoin while shedding the burden of private keys and digital wallets. In-kind creations, permitted by US regulators last summer, have increased the market infrastructure and enabled more digital assets to move into funds.

BlackRock's IBIT fund has facilitated over $5 billion in such conversions, with the process taking more than a week. Inquiries are coming from both US and international clients, with other companies like Bitwise and Grayscale also handling in-kind transactions for various assets, including Ether and Solana.