Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, has made its first foray into the cryptocurrency market. In a recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the firm disclosed a $1.08 million investment in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), as of March 31.
This modest investment—representing just a sliver of Blackstone’s $1.2 trillion portfolio—marks the company’s initial step into crypto-related assets. The 23,094 IBIT shares are held within Blackstone’s $2.63 billion Alternative Multi-Strategy Fund (BTMIX), according to data from Google Finance.
The SEC filing also revealed additional crypto-linked purchases by Blackstone, including 4,300 shares of Bitcoin Depot Inc. (BTM), a crypto ATM operator, for approximately $6,300, and 9,889 shares of the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO), costing $181,166.
Historically, Blackstone has been cautious about cryptocurrency. In 2019, CEO Steve Schwarzman expressed skepticism about digital currencies, noting his preference for centralized control over monetary systems and admitting to limited interest in the technology due to its complexity.
While Blackstone traditionally invests in private equity, real estate, credit, infrastructure, hedge funds, and insurance, this move signals a potential shift in its long-standing crypto-averse stance. As of March 31, the firm reported $37 billion in investable capital.
In contrast, the State of Wisconsin Investment Board—an early institutional adopter of Bitcoin exposure—recently exited its crypto position, selling all 6 million of its IBIT shares worth $3.7 billion in Q1.
Bitcoin continued its rally this week and hit a brand-new record high near $112,000. Analysts described this rally as more structurally sound than previous cycles, as it is fueled by institutional flows and low leverage rather than speculative excess, with over $1.3 billion flowing into Bitcoin ETFs in five days.
Easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China and the Moody’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt have been catalysts to fuel purchasing. The coin dropped back on Friday when President Trump reignited the trade war with a new threat against iPhone maker Apple.
In early trading on Friday the coin was changing hands for $108,531, according to CoinGecko.
Ethereum and alts were dropping too. ETH had dropped 4% compared to its price yesterday and is currently trading for just above $2,500. XRP has dipped 3.7% compared to this time yesterday and is currently trading for $2.34.
Bitcoin is now up more than 19% this year. Bitcoin ETFs have seen strong and steady inflows, with just two days of outflows so far in May, according to SoSoValue.
Since 2025 began, the number of Bitcoin held by public companies has grown 31% to about $349 billion, according to Bitcoin Treasuries.
Recently JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, a notable bitcoin skeptic, has revealed that the bank will allow clients to buy the digital currency.
Leading crypto analyst Michaël van de Poppe is bullish and believes that the coin will reach a new ATH of $500,000, and that too, faster than he expected — all due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar.
“$120,000 is imminent. $150,000 is imminent. $200,000 is imminent.” Poppe he said on X.
Standard Chartered has also predicted that Bitcoin will reach $200,000 by the end of 2025. It will reach $300,000 by the end of 2026, $400,000 by the end of 2027, and $500,000 by the end of 2028, the banking giant said.
However, Poppe added that people won’t buy Bitcoin due to its high price and will opt for altcoins during this period.
“Bitcoin’s surge to an all-time high of $111,000 stems from multiple catalysts,” Hobson told Decrypt. “Institutional inflows, particularly through U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs, have pumped billions into the market, while the April halving has tightened supply.”
“Alt season will kick off when two key events align,” Hobson said. “Quantitative easing must begin, injecting more liquidity into the system, and Bitcoin dominance needs to hit around 70%.”
Mena Theodorou, co-founder of Australian exchange Coinstash, said a broader altcoin rally remains unlikely in the near term, citing the ongoing price discovery phase in Bitcoin.
“As Bitcoin continues into price discovery, it tends to absorb much of the market’s liquidity,” Theodorou told Decrypt. “We’re more likely to see strength appear in select altcoins and sectors, rather than a broad-based rally.”
“Bitcoin’s driving the market narrative,” Hobson said. “It’s the Bitcoin show until the alt season kicks in.”
Analysts generally hold diverse opinions on the future of cryptocurrency, but several key themes emerge from their commentary:
Growing Institutional Adoption: Many analysts see increasing interest and investment from traditional financial institutions and corporations as a major driver of market growth and legitimization.
Focus on Real-World Use Cases: There’s a growing emphasis on developing practical applications for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies, moving beyond speculation to areas like payments, supply chain management, and decentralized finance (DeFi).
Tokenization of Assets: Analysts predict a significant increase in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs), such as real estate and art, which could further broaden the reach and utility of cryptocurrencies.
Earlier this month Coinbase became the first-ever native crypto company to join the S&P 500. Critics and naysayers are concerned about the potential risk of crypto being added to American investor portfolios.
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