--- title: "The Average BlackRock Bitcoin-ETF Investor Is Now Down About 40%" description: "The typical holder of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust — the biggest spot bitcoin ETF — is sitting on a loss of about 40%, a sharp reversal from a 30% gain a year ago, as bitcoin funds suffered their second-worst week of outflows on record." category: "Crypto" category_url: https://boursel.com/category/crypto author: "Hannah Blackwood" published: 2026-06-27T16:43:00.000Z updated: 2026-06-27T16:43:00.000Z canonical: https://boursel.com/article/the-average-blackrock-bitcoin-etf-investor-is-now-down-about-40-percent tags: ["bitcoin", "etf", "blackrock", "ibit", "crypto", "outflows"] --- # The Average BlackRock Bitcoin-ETF Investor Is Now Down About 40% The typical holder of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust — the biggest spot bitcoin ETF — is sitting on a loss of about 40%, a sharp reversal from a 30% gain a year ago, as bitcoin funds suffered their second-worst week of outflows on record. The average investor in BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (ticker IBIT) — the world's largest spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund — is now down roughly 40%, according to an analysis by Bespoke Investment Group cited by [The Block](https://www.theblock.co/post/406451/average-ibit-investor-now-down-about-40-as-spot-bitcoin-etfs-cap-second-worst-week-on-record). As recently as the middle of 2025, the same average investor was up about 30%. ## How one fund can be up while its investors are down The figure is not the fund's return since launch — it is the **average investor's** return, which can be very different. It is a dollar-weighted measure: it accounts for *when* money actually went in. Because most of IBIT's cash arrived near the top of bitcoin's 2025 run, the average price investors collectively paid — their **cost basis** — sits well above today's price. So even though IBIT has existed through bitcoin's rise and fall, the typical holder bought high. The math is stark. IBIT has taken in $60.77 billion since it launched, but holds about $44.42 billion in net assets, The Block reported. That roughly $16 billion gap is the collective paper loss of investors who have not sold. ## What a spot bitcoin ETF is A **spot bitcoin ETF** holds actual bitcoin in custody (unlike futures-based funds, which hold contracts tied to the price). Investors buy and sell shares on a normal stock exchange, getting bitcoin exposure through an ordinary brokerage account without managing a crypto wallet. IBIT, launched in January 2024, became the fastest ETF in history to reach $10 billion in assets and turned into the flagship example of mainstream money entering bitcoin. That is exactly why the current losses matter: this is the vehicle through which many first-time and institutional buyers got their bitcoin exposure. ## A record run of outflows The pain showed up in flows. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw about $1.79 billion of net outflows in the week ending June 26 — the second-largest weekly exodus since the funds began trading in January 2024, The Block reported. Only the $2.61 billion that left in late February 2025 was bigger. It was also the seventh straight week of net outflows, the longest losing streak since the products launched. The backdrop is bitcoin's slide, which Boursel has tracked through the year. The cryptocurrency hit a record of $126,272 in October 2025 and traded near $60,750 over the weekend — a drop of more than 50%. A more hawkish Federal Reserve, which has signaled rates may stay higher for longer, has added pressure to risk assets like bitcoin. ## Why it matters The losses are concrete evidence of a hard truth about timing. IBIT was widely cited as proof that bitcoin had won lasting institutional acceptance — and the asset-class thesis has not been abandoned. But the wave of buyers who arrived during peak enthusiasm now faces a choice: hold through a drawdown of more than half from the high, or sell and lock in the loss. Seven consecutive weeks of outflows suggest a meaningful share are choosing to head for the exit — a reminder that an easy-to-buy wrapper does not make a volatile asset any less volatile. ## Sources - [Average IBIT investor now down about 40% as spot bitcoin ETFs cap second-worst week on record](https://www.theblock.co/post/406451/average-ibit-investor-now-down-about-40-as-spot-bitcoin-etfs-cap-second-worst-week-on-record)