According to analysts, an unknown trader sold $1.3 billion worth of BlackRock's Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) shares on Tuesday, coinciding perfectly with a sharp drop in Bitcoin's price.
The trader executed the sale of 29.2 million shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) through a 'dark pool' at 2:30 PM UTC. Dark pools are private trading platforms where institutions typically conduct large trades to avoid visible transactions in the public market.
Shortly after the trade, Bitcoin's price further declined over approximately 12 hours, ultimately reaching a low of $75,600 within 24 hours, marking a 2.8% drop.
Bitcoin has traditionally been viewed as an asset traded outside of conventional markets; however, products like Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. have broken down barriers for institutional investors to trade Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency's correlation with the U.S. market has significantly increased recently.
Continued Outflow of Bitcoin ETFs