BlackRock moved hundreds of millions in Bitcoin and Ethereum into Coinbase Prime on Wednesday, a flurry of on-chain activity that has traders and analysts parsing whether the world’s largest asset manager is simply shuffling custody or quietly preparing to offload tokens.
Onchain tracker Lookonchain flagged the transfer, reporting that BlackRock deposited roughly 6,735 BTC, about $616 million, and 64,706 ETH, roughly $200 million, into Coinbase’s institutional arm, Coinbase Prime. The alert landed amid a string of similar movements this month.
Lookonchain and other monitors have posted several, sometimes varying, snapshots of BlackRock-linked transfers to Coinbase. Earlier on Tuesday, one Lookonchain post put different figures on the move (4,880 BTC and 54,730 ETH), showing how multiple deposits and on-chain tagging can generate slightly different tallies depending on timing and which wallets are being tracked.
Price action reacted, if modestly. Bitcoin was trading in the low-to-mid $90,000s on Wednesday, a recovery from a recent dip, while Ethereum hovered just above $3,000. These are the levels that traders say leave room for volatility if a large institutional sell order hits the market.
Context Matters
Coinbase has long been BlackRock’s chosen custodian for institutional flows, a link born from the firms’ 2022 agreement to offer BlackRock’s Aladdin clients access to Coinbase Prime’s custody and trading services. That relationship makes Coinbase a natural on-ramps and off-ramps hub for any BlackRock crypto product activity, including ETF redemptions and reallocations.
Market participants are parsing two competing narratives. One sees the deposits as routine custodial logistics tied to ETF operations, managers often move assets between cold storage, custodians and trading desks as investors subscribe or redeem shares. The other warns that repeated transfers into an exchange’s prime custody service can precede selling pressure, particularly during stretches of ETF outflows earlier this month that left traders skittish.
Technically, traders watching Bitcoin point to support clustered near the high-$80,000s and resistance in the low six figures; Ethereum watchers say the $3,000 area is psychological and that a decisive break in either direction could trigger sharper moves as algorithms and funds react.
Given the size of the transfers flagged on-chain, even a partial liquidation could ripple across spot and derivatives markets, while a simple internal custody reshuffle would likely leave broader price trends largely unchanged. For now, the story is playing out in public transaction logs and on exchange order books.
On-chain monitors will continue to update totals and trace flows; traders will be watching Coinbase’s visible liquidity and ETF flows for any sign that institutional allocations are shifting from custody to market. If BlackRock’s movements are indeed connected to ETF redemptions, the coming days could tell whether these transfers are the prelude to a larger sell program or just routine bookkeeping by a big manager navigating client flows.
