Overview
- A single off-exchange block of 29.21 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) traded for $43.16 per share on May 26, 2026, valuing the sale at about $1.26 billion.
- The trade was reported through the FINRA/Nasdaq TRF Carteret facility and executed at a $1.01 discount to the quoted market price, implying roughly $29.5 million in immediate execution cost.
- NYDIG converted the IBIT position into an equivalent of roughly 3,700 CME bitcoin futures contracts and found only 91 futures contracts traded in the minute the block crossed, which it says argues against a contemporaneous basis-trade unwind.
- IBIT posted about $720 million in net redemptions on May 26–27 and U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw steady net outflows between mid and late May, with category assets falling from $107.75 billion to $94.17 billion between May 14 and May 29.
- Public data cannot identify the seller because the position exceeded reported 13F holdings, raising questions about liquidity and how large holders manage rapid exits; market watchers should watch ETF flow reports and futures volume for further signs of stress.