BlackRock has significantly lowered the threshold for investors to directly convert self-custodied BTC into shares of the spot Bitcoin ETF IBIT, with the minimum conversion size reduced from the previous $25 million to $1 million; Bitwise has also lowered the related threshold from $100 million to $3 million.

This conversion is completed through “in-kind creation,” allowing investors to directly deliver BTC in exchange for ETF shares, without the need to first sell BTC and then buy the ETF, thus avoiding the immediate capital gains tax triggered by the sale. Robbie Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, stated that IBIT has processed over $5 billion in such conversions, further increasing from $3 billion in October of last year.