BlackRock significantly increased its exposure to digital assets in 2025, adding more than $22 billion to its cryptocurrency portfolio over the course of the year, according to Finbold’s 2025 Cryptocurrency Market Report. The move highlights the growing role of on-chain assets within institutional investment strategies.
Data from blockchain analytics platform Arkham shows that the combined value of BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings rose by more than 41% between January and December, with Bitcoin remaining the core driver of growth as the asset manager steadily expanded its position throughout the year.
Ethereum, however, delivered the fastest growth. BlackRock’s ETH holdings more than tripled in 2025, rising by roughly 2.4 million ETH. In value terms, Ethereum exposure grew from $3.6 billion to over $10 billion, translating to a 184% annual gain and reflecting growing institutional interest in Ethereum’s role in tokenization, settlement infrastructure, and yield-generating use cases.
Commenting on the findings, Diana Paluteder, Research Analyst at Finbold, said the data highlights a clear shift in institutional behavior:
“What stands out in BlackRock’s 2025 activity is not just the scale of capital deployed, but the consistency. Accumulation continued through periods of market consolidation, reinforcing the idea that large institutions are treating crypto as a strategic long-duration allocation.”
Jordan Major, Editor at Finbold, added that the composition of the portfolio reflects where institutional conviction remains strongest:
“Bitcoin continues to anchor BlackRock’s crypto exposure, but Ethereum’s outsized growth in 2025 signals increasing confidence in its role within tokenization, settlement, and yield-bearing infrastructure. Together, the data points to a maturing institutional approach to digital assets.”
Taken together, Finbold’s analysis indicates that BlackRock’s expansion in crypto exposure during 2025 was driven by sustained investor demand for regulated access to digital assets, reinforcing the view that institutional adoption has entered a more structural phase.
