Wall Street giants are at it again! BlackRock snatched up 240 million in encryption assets in just 40 minutes. Should retail investors in the crypto world follow suit?

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The crypto world is never short of big news, but every move by BlackRock can shake the market—after all, this is a "financial aircraft carrier" that manages trillions of dollars in assets.

On the evening of October 22, on-chain data suddenly exploded: BlackRock received 1,884 BTC and 10,585 ETH from Coinbase Prime, a mainstream CEX (centralized exchange), in just 40 minutes. At current prices, these two assets are worth a total of $245 million. As a blogger who has been deeply involved in the crypto world for many years, Seagull immediately saw that this was no coincidence—every large transfer by institutional giants sends a signal to the market.

Some may think it's just a transfer, but those in the know understand that BlackRock's actions in the crypto world over the past two years are no longer "testing the waters" but rather "heavy investment." In January this year, they poured $1 billion into buying Bitcoin, increasing their holdings to over 570,000 coins, which accounts for 2.7% of the total Bitcoin supply; in July, they invested another $1.1 billion into Ethereum, with their Ethereum ETF capturing 98% of the net inflow in similar products. Now, their Bitcoin trust IBIT has surpassed $90 billion in scale, and the Ethereum trust ETHA also has a volume of $10 billion, making it not an exaggeration to say they are the "leader" in institutional crypto investment.

More importantly, this transfer hides a significant shift in the crypto world: the once-derided "centralized" encryption assets are now being treated as hot commodities by Wall Street’s regular army. In the past, the coins held by crypto billionaires were fearful of hackers and fraud, but now giants like BlackRock taking over is equivalent to placing a "compliance insurance" on digital assets—providing custody and preservation of value, while also allowing them to become assets recognized by traditional finance through ETFs, even offering tax avoidance strategies. This is also why 70% of institutions are now starting to hold encryption assets, nearly doubling from last year.

However, as a retail investor, don't rush to follow the trend and chase the rise. BlackRock's investment in coins is based on a long-term strategy; what they want is the trend of legalization and tokenization of encryption assets, rather than short-term fluctuations. It's important to note that Bitcoin has risen from $35,000 to $28,000 this year, while Ethereum has fluctuated around $4,000. Institutional funds can withstand the volatility, but retail investors blindly following the trend are likely to be cut off.

Ultimately, BlackRock's large collection this time is just a reflection of the deep binding between traditional finance and the encryption market. The crypto world is no longer a small circle of geek players, but a new battlefield for giants. For retail investors, instead of focusing on guessing the ups and downs of a single transfer, it's better to see the trend clearly—compliance and institutionalization are the future. Preserving capital and rational allocation are far more reliable than following the big players.
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