US crypto ETFs are pulling Bitcoiners into TradFi: BlackRock's Jay Jacobs
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Jay Jacobs, BlackRock's US head of equity ETFs, said roughly 75% of investors in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) had never owned an ETF before, making the Bitcoin product a gateway for crypto-native investors into the broader ETF market.
- iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), launched in January 2024, holds $48 billion in assets and 765,936 BTC, and Jacobs said many IBIT investors go on to buy other BlackRock funds including the S&P 500 ETF (IVV), the AI ETF (BAI), and the gold ETF (IAU).
- BlackRock launched a new iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA) on Wednesday, which generates income by selling covered call options on its Bitcoin holdings, extending the firm's Bitcoin product line beyond spot exposure.
- BlackRock is branding the overlap of crypto, DeFi, and traditional finance as the "Great Convergence," with Jacobs predicting the industry will shift from "TradFi versus DeFi" framing to "TradFi and DeFi."
- The SpaceX IPO earlier this month illustrated the convergence in action — crypto traders accessed pre-IPO exposure via perpetual futures and tokenized stocks, with pre-IPO perp volumes on crypto exchanges jumping from ~$1 billion in early May to ~$22 billion, per CryptoQuant.
Why it matters: The 75% first-timer figure shows IBIT is functioning as a customer-acquisition engine, not just a crypto bet — BlackRock is converting a new investor demographic and cross-selling them into IVV, BAI, and IAU. The new BITA covered-call fund extends that funnel from spot Bitcoin into yield-generating products, deepening the firm's hold on a segment traditional asset managers couldn't reach before.
