A $1.3 billion block of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: $IBIT) changed hands in a dark pool Tuesday morning, putting new pressure on a Bitcoin market already undergoing another streak of ETF outflows.
The off-exchange trade covered nearly 29 million IBIT shares and was executed at 10:30 a.m. ET. The size stood out across all of the day’s activity and ranks among the largest Bitcoin ETF transactions in the private market since U.S. spot products began trading last year.
Dark pool trading is designed to keep large orders away from public order books, reducing the immediate impact that can occur when a major seller exits open markets. In this case, Bitcoin avoided a deeper breakout, but the tape still showed tension around the trading window. Decrypt reported that Bitcoin fell almost 1.4% in a shorter period of time, going from approximately $78,000 to $77,000 during the sell-off.
More from Cryptoprowl:
IBIT also faced $192.4 million in net outflows on Tuesday, while US Bitcoin Spot ETFs recorded $334 million in total net outflows for the week through Tuesday. This followed two consecutive weeks of higher withdrawals, including $1 billion and $1.26 billion in refunds.
The bigger question is whether the block sale was a one-off rebalancing or a clearer sign that institutional demand has cooled after Bitcoin’s spring rally. Shawn Young, chief analyst at MEXC Research, said the reaction looked like “more of a big portfolio adjustment than a disorderly liquidation.”
That distinction is important for market structure. The trade did not create a complete liquidity disruption, but it showed how large ETF sales can still affect Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) prices even when they deviate from visible order books.
For now, IBIT remains the largest public wrapper for Bitcoin spot exposure, making its flows a clear read on how much institutional conviction there is still behind the trade.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (NASDAQ: IBIT) is currently trading at $42.36 per share.