Bitcoin ($BTC) Whales Are Swapping Self-Custody for BlackRock's IBIT at a Record Pace as Kidnapping Fears Mount

Published November 10, 2026, 4:10 PM PKT. Based on reporting from Barron's via Bitcoin Magazine, and BeInCrypto, both published November 9, 2026.

Large Bitcoin ($BTC) holders are swapping coins they guard themselves for shares of BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) at a record pace, the firm's head of digital assets said on November 9, 2026, as kidnappings and hacks push security to the top of their list. "The current moment is the highest we've seen at any point," Robbie Mitchnick told Barron's, adding that demand for the swaps "has sort of been one way, up." Of all the reasons clients give, he said, "the single largest one is security and peace of mind."

The trades are in-kind conversions. A holder delivers Bitcoin ($BTC) to the fund through an intermediary and receives newly created IBIT shares, without first selling the coins for cash. BlackRock relies on Galaxy Digital, Talos and Virtu to handle the transactions, and those firms set the minimum size. The move adds no new money to Bitcoin ($BTC), because the coins already existed and simply changed wrappers.

The record pace of in-kind swaps

Barron's put the volume BlackRock has seen at $3.6 billion, noting the real figure could be larger because the firm does not process every conversion itself, according to Bitcoin Magazine's summary of the report. Mitchnick cited a bigger number in August, telling Bloomberg that IBIT had facilitated more than $5 billion of such swaps, up from more than $3 billion in October 2025.

The $5 billion figure is therefore not new. It comes from the August interview. What is new is the pace: Mitchnick told Barron's that demand is now at its highest point since the swaps became possible, and that the flow has moved in one direction.

In that August interview, Mitchnick named the threats outright. "People see things happen in the outside world, whether it's kidnappings, ransom, custody failures, that motivate them to make this switch for all or some of their holdings," he told Bloomberg.

He told Barron's the recent Binance hack, in which about $6.3 billion in crypto was stolen on October 29, was not news to big holders. "Most large Bitcoin ($BTC) holders were already acutely aware of the risk of holding on an exchange and in a hot wallet," he said.

How a swap works, and why the minimum fell

The swaps became possible when the US Securities and Exchange Commission voted on July 29, 2025 to let spot Bitcoin ($BTC) and Ether ($ETH) funds create and redeem shares in kind, ending the cash-only structure it required when the funds launched in January 2024. Before that vote, a holder who wanted ETF shares had to sell coins for cash first.

Access has widened since. BlackRock cut the minimum from about $25 million to about $1 million in July, BeInCrypto reported, and Bitcoin Magazine puts the current range at $1 million to $2 million. The lower bar is part of why the pace is rising: conversions that were once limited to the largest holders are now open to a wider group.

Taxes are part of the pitch. Converting appreciated Bitcoin ($BTC) into IBIT in kind "generally isn't seen as a sale that would trigger capital-gains taxes," Barron's wrote, while Bloomberg cautioned that avoiding an immediate bill depends on the investor's circumstances. Mitchnick also pointed to estate planning, calling it "much, much simpler" to hold the exposure "within the confines of their private bank."

Once inside, the coins sit with IBIT's custodian, an affiliate of Coinbase Prime, in what Mitchnick called an "institutional-grade cold-storage model." The fund held 795,921 BTC, worth about $60.4 billion, as of November 6, according to Bitcoin Magazine.

The kidnappings behind the fear

The fears behind the trade are documented. Chainalysis, a blockchain research firm, counted 46 violent attacks on crypto holders by late June, up from 40 a year earlier, and about half were kidnappings, according to BeInCrypto.

French authorities have recorded 77 crypto-linked kidnappings, extortion cases and home invasions so far in 2026, more than in all of 2025, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reported, citing the national organized crime prosecutor. Reuters reported last year that Ledger's co-founder lost a finger after being kidnapped with his wife.

One crypto investor told BeInCrypto this week how a kidnapping in Oxford cost him $2 million. Evan Luthra said five masked men kidnapped him in November 2025 and stole more than $2 million in crypto in 30 minutes, according to BeInCrypto. The United States has its own cases, including a failed Connecticut plot to force a family to hand over Bitcoin ($BTC).

Bitcoin ($BTC) security researcher Jameson Lopp maintains a public list of physical attacks on holders dating back to 2014, and a bug in Coldcard hardware wallets in August put self-custody devices under scrutiny too.

The shift cuts against Bitcoin's ($BTC) founding pitch of holding money without a bank. Holders who convert give up their private keys for a brokerage claim, trading the risk of guarding coins themselves for reliance on BlackRock, its custodian and the market makers in between.

The cash is still leaving

An in-kind creation adds IBIT shares and counts toward the fund's reported flows, but no Bitcoin ($BTC) is bought on the open market, so headline flow figures overstate new cash. The cash has been moving the other way. US spot Bitcoin ($BTC) ETFs lost about $1.28 billion in the week ended November 6, their worst week since June, and IBIT accounted for about $1.21 billion of that, Farside Investors data shows.

US spot Bitcoin ($BTC) ETFs took in $25.6 billion this year. Through November 5, they paid out $26.1 billion, BeInCrypto reported last week. If cash keeps leaving through December, 2026 becomes the first losing year since these ETFs launched in January 2024.

BlackRock still collects the coins. Its digital assets reached $79.6 billion by September 30, its filing shows.

Sources

• Bitcoin Magazine, BlackRock: Bitcoin Whales Are Swapping Self-Custody For IBIT At Record Pace, published November 9, 2026 (primary reporting: Robbie Mitchnick told Barron's demand for in-kind swaps is at a record, "The current moment is the highest we've seen at any point," demand "has sort of been one way, up," "the single largest one is security and peace of mind"; Barron's put the volume at $3.6 billion; Mitchnick told Bloomberg in August that IBIT had facilitated more than $5 billion of swaps, up from more than $3 billion in October 2025; Galaxy Digital, Talos and Virtu handle the transactions; minimum now $1 million to $2 million; SEC voted July 29, 2025 to allow in-kind creations and redemptions; IBIT held 795,921 BTC, about $60.4 billion, as of November 6; US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost about $1.28 billion in the week ended November 6, IBIT about $1.21 billion, per Farside Investors; French authorities recorded 77 crypto-linked kidnappings, extortion cases and home invasions in 2026, per OCCRP)
• BeInCrypto, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF Takes In $5B of Holders' Coins as Kidnapping Fears Mount, published November 9, 2026 (secondary reporting: Mitchnick told Bloomberg the trend will keep growing; Chainalysis counted 46 violent attacks on crypto holders by late June, up from 40 a year earlier, about half kidnappings; investor Evan Luthra told BeInCrypto a kidnapping in Oxford cost him $2 million; BlackRock cut the minimum from $25 million to $1 million in July; US spot Bitcoin ETFs took in $25.6 billion this year and paid out $26.1 billion through November 5; another $1.28 billion left in the week ending November 6, per SoSoValue; BlackRock digital assets reached $79.6 billion by September 30)
• BSC News, BlackRock Reports Record Demand From Bitcoin Whales Converting BTC Into IBIT Shares, About $3.6 Billion, published November 10, 2026 (secondary reporting: Barron's put the conversion volume at $3.6 billion; Mitchnick said security concerns are the main reason behind the shift from self-custody to institutional custody)

This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.