Jane

Bitcoin ETF

Galaxy

Bitcoin

An unknown trader’s $1.3 billion sale of shares in BlackRock’s Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on Tuesday coincided with a steep fall in the price of Bitcoin, according to analysts.
A trader sold 29.2 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) at 2:30 p.m. UTC on a “dark pool,” a private trading platform that institutions often use to discreetly make large trades outside of public markets.
The impact of the $1.3 billion trade was immediately felt in the crypto market, with TradingView <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=COINBASE%3ABTCUSD" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a> showing that Bitcoin (BTC) fell 1.5% from $77,875 to $76,720 in a short 10-minute window after 2:30 p.m. UTC.
Bitcoin then slid further to a 24-hour bottom of $75,600 about 12 hours later, marking a 2.8% fall for the day.
Bitcoin has historically been viewed as an asset that trades outside of the traditional market, but products such as US-based Bitcoin ETFs have removed barriers for institutional investors to trade Bitcoin, and the cryptocurrency has recently traded in high correlation with US markets.
Alex Thorn, head of firmwide research at crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, <a href="https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2059332729418727665" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> in a post to X that it was the biggest trade he has seen made through a dark pool.
<img alt="Bitcoin’s recent drop coincides with $1.3B ‘dark pool’ ETF sale: Analyst" height="555" src="https://s3-images.ctmedia.io/media/content/pasted-image-1046.png" width="691">Source: <a href="https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/2059332729418727665" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Alex Thorn</a>
Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas also <a href="https://x.com/EricBalchunas/status/2059378201432866867" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">shared</a> that the 29.2 million <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/jpmorgan-bitcoin-etf-buy-blackrock-ibit-q1-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">IBIT shares</a> sold at $43.16 and was over 22 times larger than the second-largest IBIT sell order on Tuesday.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/goldman-sachs-xrp-solana-etf-exposure-q1-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Goldman Sachs exits XRP, Solana ETF exposure in Q1 2026</a>&nbsp;
<h2 id="bitcoin-etf-outflow-streak-continues">Bitcoin ETF outflow streak continues</h2>
US spot Bitcoin ETFs have now <a href="https://farside.co.uk/btc/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">recorded</a> eight straight trading days of <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-etfs-105-million-outflows-mystery-ibit-buyer" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">net outflows,</a> with a $333.6 million outflow on Tuesday, including a $192.4 million outflow from IBIT.
More than $2 billion has now flowed out from the ETFs since May 14, the last recorded net inflow across all the funds, a sign that institutional sentiment toward Bitcoin has weakened, with investors reducing exposure to Bitcoin ETFs at a rate faster than <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/markets/bitcoins-less-aggressive-demand-may-lead-to-months-of-consolidation-analysis" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">fresh capital</a> flowing into the market.
Institutional market maker Jane Street reduced its Bitcoin ETF holdings by around 70% in the first quarter, while investment bank<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/goldman-sachs-xrp-solana-etf-exposure-q1-2026" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> Goldman Sachs</a> reduced its Bitcoin ETF position by 10%.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/bitcoin-etfs-aave-ethereum-unfreeze-united-states-clarity-act-hodlers-digest/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin ETFs bleed $1B, Aave’s $71M ETH unfreeze bid delayed</a>

Bitcoin’s recent drop coincides with $1.3B ‘dark pool’ ETF sale: Analyst

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