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Whale alert: Someone dumped $1.29 billion of BlackRock’s bitcoin ETF in a dark pool trade
The big sale happened amid a broader continued exodus from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs.
May 27, 2026, 8:40 a.m. 2 min read
What to know:
- An unknown investor executed a single $1.29 billion block sale of BlackRock’s IBIT bitcoin ETF in a dark pool on Tuesday, in what one analyst called the largest trade of its kind he has seen.
- The sale came amid a broader exodus from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, which saw a combined $333 million in outflows Tuesday and $2.26 billion withdrawn over the past two weeks.
The massive sale was just one on a day that saw total net outflows from the 11 spot ETFs increase to $334 million. The ETFs have suffered net outflows for seven straight days, the second-longest run since their inception in January 2024, losing $1.88 billon. The longest consecutive outflow streak is eight trading days, occurring twice — in late August-early September 2024, totalling $1.2 billion and again in February 2025, totalling $3.3 billion.
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, flagged the transaction on X, calling it the biggest of its kind he has ever seen. Thorn noted that the $1.289 billion trade took place at 10:30 a.m. ET.
