BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Beats S&P 500 Despite Crushing 53% Crash

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has narrowly outperformed the S&P 500 index fund, VOO, since its launch in January 2024. Despite subjecting investors to a 53% drawdown, IBIT returned 67.74%, compared to VOO's 66.14%. The performance gap is surprisingly narrow given the volatility of Bitcoin's price history.

According to Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas, IBIT's path to a roughly 70% gain was 'hard to believe.' He likened the fund's performance to riding the El Toro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure. The similarity in headline returns disappears once you consider the path investors took to get there.

IBIT's worst peak-to-trough decline reached 53.30% between October 6, 2025, and June 30, 2026. VOO's maximum drawdown over the comparison period was 18.69%, from February 19 through April 8, 2025.

BlackRock has recommended a 2% BTC allocation for investors seeking diversification and long-term return potential. The company's less-than-three-year-old product has accumulated roughly $63 billion of inflows since launch, giving it scale few new ETFs have reached.