BlackRock and other Wall Street titans have quietly cornered more Bitcoin than Satoshi Nakamoto ever imagined possible. In just eight months, these financial giants have accumulated enough cryptocurrency to reshape the entire digital asset landscape.
U.S.-based Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) dominate this institutional accumulation, holding more than 1.29 million BTC across eleven approved funds as of Sunday, according to data from HODL15Capital. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) leads the pack with 746,810 BTC, while Fidelity’s Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) holds just under 199,500 BTC in second place.
These institutional vehicles added more than 170,000 BTC worth approximately $18.7 billion between December 31, 2024, and August 31, 2025. This is a massive accumulation that represents nearly 1% of Bitcoin’s total supply in just over eight months.
Institutional Demand Shows Signs of Cooling
However, institutional interest in Bitcoin seems to be waning. Global Bitcoin Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) recorded net outflows of $301 million in August, while Ethereum funds attracted $3.95 billion in inflows during the same period. This shift signals a broader rotation among institutional investors towards alternative cryptocurrencies.
Large Bitcoin holders, known as ‘whales’, are leading this rotation. On Monday alone, one Bitcoin whale sold 4,000 BTC and purchased 96,859 Ether over 12 hours, now holding $3.8 billion worth of Ethereum. Blockchain analytics platform Arkham identified nine whales who collectively booked Bitcoin profits and rotated $456 million into Ether tokens.
Several factors may be contributing to Bitcoin’s declining institutional demand. This shift is driven by Bitcoin’s historical September weakness, rising gold prices, anticipation of Solana and XRP ETF approvals by October 2025, and Ethereum’s attractive staking yields, which Bitcoin lacks. Additionally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently reviewing 92 pending crypto-related ETF applications. This abundance of pending crypto ETF applications creates uncertainty that may cause institutional investors to pause their Bitcoin allocations.
Market Outlook Remains Divided
Market analysts remain divided on Bitcoin’s near-term prospects. Pseudonymous analyst PlanC suggested Bitcoin’s path to $1 million faces significant hurdles, predicting the asset will “keep grinding slowly upward to $1,000,000 over the next seven years in a very boring and underwhelming way.”
Research firm Delphi Digital predicts that Bitcoin may surge and then decline following a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September 2025, provided it rises beforehand. However, if market activity remains low before the rate cut, Delphi expects Bitcoin’s price to stay relatively stable.
On September 1, 2025, Bitcoin’s price dropped to $107,000 before rebounding above $110,000, reflecting shifting market sentiment. The cryptocurrency now trades approximately 11% below its all-time high of $124,128, reached on August 14, 2025, fuelling speculation about potential cycle tops.
CryptoQuant analysts, however, view this 11% correction as healthy, noting it is significantly less severe than the 28% maximum decline observed in this bull cycle since March 2024.
