BlackRock says bitcoin sentiment is turning as decoupling from stocks takes hold

BlackRock's Head of Digital Assets Robert Mitchnick said Monday there are reasons to believe that there has been a perception shift around bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, which has been fluctuating between roughly $60,000 and $65,000 for more than two months."We’ve seen sentiment turn in a noticeable, but subtle way the last month or so. You’ve seen Bitcoin decouple from equities starting earlier in the year," Mitchnick said during a televised interview. "For a while, that was hurting bitcoin because equities, particularly AI, were roaring and bitcoin was kind of flat to down."Bitcoin (BTC) is down nearly 30% year-to-date, and 50% off where it was trading a year ago. As of 2:38 p.m. EST, BTC was changing hands at $63,853, down about 2% on the day.Mitchnick pointed to bitcoin’s recent performance relative to equities as evidence of that shift."In July, when AI had the huge pullback, bitcoin outperformed significantly," he said. "That decoupling is healthy because it’s part of the thesis for a lot of people around bitcoin as a diversifier and potentially a hedge against some of the left-tail risks that exist elsewhere in the portfolio."Asked how the downturn has affected investors in bitcoin ETFs, Mitchnick said the ETF investor base has consistently tended to consist of “fundamental, long-term, buy-and-hold” investors."It’s always been a volatile asset, right? There have been now five major boom-and-bust cycles," he said. "Each time, the cycle ends significantly higher than the prior one, but with a bumpy ride along the way. And so it’s been the case in this one as well."The latest data appears to support the idea that ETF investors remain willing to buy despite bitcoin’s decline. Last week, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs logged their best inflow week since mid-April, drawing about $853.5 million in a five-session inflow streak as of Friday.BlackRock's (IBIT) fund registered $693.7 million of inflows, more than 80% of the total inflows across all spot bitcoin ETFs. Fidelity's (FBTC) fund accounted for 13% of the total inflows, with $116.4 million.The Coldcard exploit, which reportedly resulted in the theft of more than $100 million in bitcoin from cold storage, has also prompted speculation that some investors are moving bitcoin from self-custody into ETFs over security concerns.Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas said last week that both BlackRock and Fidelity's spot bitcoin ETFs and others had benefited from inflows every day since the Coldcard hack, making it "hard not to see causation in the correlation."Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2026 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.