BlackRock Sees Bitcoin as Global Monetary Alternative, Not Just Risk-On Asset
BlackRock Global Head of Digital Assets Robbie Mitchnick has described Bitcoin (BTC) as having no label, but its closest rival is gold. In a recent interview on the Crypto Prime podcast, Mitchnick noted that investors in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) have largely held their positions despite the cryptocurrency's more than 50% peak-to-trough drop since October.
The decline in IBIT's assets under management was mainly driven by falling prices. However, only about $1 billion of investor capital was withdrawn from the fund during this period, indicating a predominantly long-term, buy-and-hold investor base.
IBIT has since returned to positive net flows for 2026, with approximately $2.5 billion of inflows over the past two-and-a-half weeks as Bitcoin rallied about 30%. Mitchnick argued that labeling Bitcoin purely as a risk-on or risk-off asset misses an important part of its investment case.
He described Bitcoin as an emerging global monetary alternative operating outside traditional fiscal and political systems, with its closest comparator being gold. Mitchnick stated that the correlation between Bitcoin's price movements and other assets is particularly important for institutional investors.