BlackRock Executive Denies "IBIT Hedge Fund Default Triggers Bitcoin Price Plunge": IBIT is very stable, with a fund redemption rate of only 0.2%

BlockBeats News, February 13th. Robert Mitchnick, Global Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, stated yesterday at the Bitcoin Investor Week 2026 event that institutional investors, sovereign nations, and banks are buying Bitcoin on the dip.

Furthermore, Mitchnick also clarified speculation regarding the "IBIT Hedge Fund's default triggering a Bitcoin crash," stating that there is a misconception that the hedge fund caused turmoil in the ETF, created Bitcoin volatility, and dumped. "But what we saw was not the case. Last week, the Bitcoin market was clearly volatile. We looked at the data for IBIT (BlackRock Bitcoin ETF), the entire fund's redemption volume was only 0.2%. If indeed many hedge funds were aggressively unwinding their arbitrage trades in the ETF, you would expect to see billions of dollars flowing out. Instead, we did see billions in liquidation on those leveraged perpetual contract platforms. The ETF side was very stable; the investor base looked more like those who buy and hold long term."

Previously, analysts pointed out that on February 5th, BlackRock's IBIT had a trading volume of $10.7 billion, nearly double the previous highest day, with options premiums of approximately $900 million, both setting records. BTC and SOL dropped simultaneously, coupled with low CeFi liquidations, leading to suspicion that this fluctuation originated from a large IBIT holder, possibly one or more non-crypto hedge funds based in Hong Kong, China.