BlackRock pulled $935 million in digital asset inflows in Q1 despite losing $18.7 billion in AUM

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK) reported its first-quarter 2026 results on Tuesday, April 14, revealing a stark divergence between its digital asset inflows and itsAUM (assets under management) performance.  

During the first three months of 2026, BlackRock attracted $935 million in net inflows into its digital asset products, according to its quarterly report, as analyzed by Finbold on April 15. The asset management firm, with reported AUM of approximately $13.9 trillion, saw its digital assets wipe out $18.7 billion amid the crypto market selloff. As such, for every dollar investors put in BlackRock’s digital assets, the market wiped out roughly twenty.

In addition to a $5 million impact loss due to FX, BlackRock’s digital assets closed the first quarter with $60.7 billion in value. As Finbold previously reported, the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) increased its holdings by nearly 15,000 Bitcoin (BTC) during Q1, bringing its total to 785,240 BTC.

However, BlackRock iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) recorded a decline of roughly 410,750 Ethereum (ETH) in Q1, bringing its holdings to approximately 3.06 million units.

BlackRock’s digital assets are a drop in the ocean, for now

BlackRock’s digital assets business closed the first quarter of 2026 with less than 0.5% of its total AUM. As such, the category accounted for $42 million in base fees, representing about 0.77% of the firm’s $5.4 billion in total base fees and 0.63% of its $6.7 billion in total intake.

As for the whole year, BlackRock’s digital assets accounted for $32.3 billion of the $744 billion in net new inflows, representing just 4.3% of the total. However, BlackRock, under the leadership of Larry Fink, continued to double down on digital assets during the first quarter.

For instance, BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHB) in March 2026, combining spot Ethereum exposure with staking yield. Additionally, the firm filed for the iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF (BITA), a Bitcoin-focused fund designed to generate yield through a covered call options strategy on its existing IBIT holdings.