BlackRock moved 5,847 Bitcoin worth approximately $450 million to Coinbase Prime on Tuesday, according to blockchain transaction data. The transfer was split into 20 separate transactions.
The sizable transfer quickly drew attention from crypto traders and analysts monitoring institutional wallet activity, largely because of BlackRock’s status as the world’s largest asset manager and ongoing swings in Bitcoin prices.
Bitcoin briefly slid to about $76,000 on Monday before recovering to nearly $77,000 at press time, per CoinGecko.
Coinbase Prime is the institutional custody and trading arm that BlackRock uses to manage the Bitcoin backing its iShares Bitcoin Trust, ticker IBIT. When BlackRock moves coins to Coinbase Prime, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re about to sell on the open market. It could signal upcoming ETF redemptions, portfolio rebalancing, or operational housekeeping for a fund that has approached $63 billion in assets.
About 68% of professional investors surveyed by mid-2025 said they had already allocated or planned to access Bitcoin exposure specifically through exchange-traded products.
IBIT launched in January 2024 after the SEC greenlit spot Bitcoin ETFs, and within roughly two years it became one of the largest ETF products in digital assets.
Bitcoin whale wallets climb 11% as large holders keep accumulating
Data from Santiment shows that the number of wallets holding at least 100 Bitcoin has climbed to 20,229, up about 11% from 18,191 wallets recorded a year earlier.
📈 The amount of wallets holding at least 100 Bitcoin has risen to 20,229. This is a +11.2% increase compared to the 18,191 wallets holding at least this level a year ago.
🐳 This is a significant long-term trend because wallets of at least this size (currently ~$7.7M or more)… pic.twitter.com/FAlHLnD71K
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) May 18, 2026
Wallets holding 100 BTC or more, currently valued at approximately $7.7 million, are typically linked to whales, institutional investors, and high-net-worth long-term holders. Even as Bitcoin experienced major price swings throughout the past year, the total number of these large wallets continued to trend higher.
Market observers often interpret growth in whale-sized wallets as a bullish long-term signal, reflecting confidence in Bitcoin’s future value and supply scarcity. The increase is especially noteworthy because it persisted during periods when retail sentiment weakened and many smaller traders remained cautious.
The data suggests that large holders have continued to accumulate Bitcoin despite ongoing market uncertainty.
