BlackRock Bitcoin ETP begins trading on the London Stock Exchange

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETP (exchange-traded product) (BLOK) began trading on the London Stock Exchange today after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) lifted its ban on certain Bitcoin-based ETPs.

This is the first product of its kind offered by the asset management giant in the UK. In its first hour of trading, the IB1T ETP recorded trading volumes of 1,000 shares on the London Stock Exchange.

Launch of the London Stock Exchange builds on European presence

The iShares Bitcoin ETP has begun trading on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol “IB1T” and allows UK investors to gain exposure to Bitcoin through a regulated market without the need to hold the crypto directly.

BlackRock’s product was already available to some European investors. This is after its listing on Xetra, Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Paris towards the end of March this year, according to BlackRock’s website.

The listing on the London Stock Exchange comes after the FCA opened access to crypto ETPs to retail investors. This rule change came into effect on October 8.

Prior to this rule change, the FCA had banned retail access to crypto ETPs in 2021 due to concerns over investor protection.

One of the requirements for retail investors in the UK to purchase crypto ETPs is that the products must be listed on recognized UK exchanges approved by the FCA. Products must also comply with financial promotion rules to avoid misleading advertising and inappropriate incentives.

BlackRock seeks to consolidate its dominance in the Bitcoin ETF market

BlackRock manages more than $13 trillion in assets globally and has seen strong growth in its crypto-focused products.

Its flagship US Bitcoin spot ETF, IBIT, launched in January last year and saw the largest cumulative inflows of any US product since its inception.

Data from Farside Investors shows that IBIT has seen $64.981 billion in cumulative inflows so far. This is well above the second largest cumulative inflow of $12.554 billion that Fidelity FBTC has seen since its launch.

Spot BTC flow in the United States (Source: Distant investors)

The IBIT, however, experienced a streak of capital outflows over several days, which it extended during the last trading session.

The product saw $268.6 million leave its reserves on October 17, representing the highest negative flow seen that day. Other funds, like Fidelity’s FBTC, Valkyrie’s BRRR, and Grayscale’s GBTC, saw outflows of $67.4 million, $5.6 million, and $25 million, respectively, on the same day.

IBIT’s latest outflows came after the product saw outflows of $29.5 million the previous day. On October 15 and 14, the investment product also saw outflows of $10.1 million and $30.8 million, respectively.

Despite recent outflows, IBIT has been a top performer both in the US Bitcoin spot ETF market and among BlackRock’s other ETFs.

Just 374 days after its launch, IBIT surpassed $80 billion in assets under management, becoming the fastest ETF in history to achieve this milestone.

Its assets under management then continued to grow in early October, reaching $100 billion, according to Eric Balchunas, analyst at Bloomberg ETF. However, its assets under management have since fallen to around $85.78 billion after a broader crypto market downturn, the fund said. page watch.

$IBIT just shy of $100 billion, is now the most profitable ETF for BlackRock, by far, based on current assets. Check out the ages of the rest of the Top 10. Absurd. pic.twitter.com/E8ZMI2wynx

– Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) October 6, 2025

IBIT also outperformed BlackRock’s popular S&P 500 fund in terms of annual fees to become the asset manager’s most profitable ETF.

BlackRock CEO has a change in stance towards crypto

Much of BlackRock’s expansion into digital assets has to do with the change in position of its CEO, Larry Fink.

In 2018, Fink described Bitcoin as a “speculative” asset and questioned why it “exerts such fascination in the press.”

In 2021, he then said that BlackRock was studying cryptos like Bitcoin, but still argued that it was then too early to say whether cryptos were more than just speculative trading tools.

However, in October this year, Fink said Bitcoin had a similar role to gold as a portfolio diversifier and admitted he was wrong in his previous anti-Bitcoin comments.

CEO of the world’s largest asset manager…

“We are only at the beginning of tokenizing all assets.”

Yes, includes ETFs.

Larry Fink on his positive attitude towards crypto: “I’m growing and learning. »

Good lesson here.

And some of you *still* think crypto is a scam. pic.twitter.com/GJ8oxWF3vK

-Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) October 15, 2025

While his stance may have changed, Fink nevertheless cautioned against investors making Bitcoin a significant component of their portfolios.

Related articles:

Best Wallet – Diversify your crypto portfolio

• Easy-to-use, feature-driven crypto wallet
• Get Early Access to Upcoming Token ICOs
• Multi-chain, multi-wallet, non-custodial
• Now on App Store, Google Play
• Stake to win a $BEST native token
• More than 250,000 active users per month