In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Robbie Mitchnick—Global Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock—addressed Bitcoin’s recent stagnation and shared why he believes institutional demand may be stronger than its price implies. Despite significant hopes pinned on regulatory developments and a “crypto-friendly” turn at the White House, Bitcoin has spent the early months of 2025 hovering around the mid-$80,000 range, prompting questions about what catalysts might drive the next price rally.
Is Bitcoin Undervalued?
Mitchnick acknowledged that Bitcoin started showing considerable strength toward the end of 2024. “Bitcoin is still up, let’s call it 15% or so since the beginning of November,” he noted. This rally, he explained, was fueled by a combination of institutional interest and optimism surrounding potential government endorsement by the Trump administration.
However, he cautioned that “accelerated, perhaps premature expectations of just how quickly some of these catalysts would start to arrive” might have contributed to the market’s more recent price stagnation. According to Mitchnick, many investors and traders anticipated an immediate spike following the White House’s pro-crypto moves. When those gains failed to materialize, some short-term participants began unwinding positions, contributing to downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.
BlackRock made headlines with its Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, widely recognized for bringing a new wave of institutional exposure to the crypto market. Even so, Mitchnick revealed that inflows have softened: “2024 was pretty incredible, pretty historic on that front. 2025 to start has been more negative. We’ve seen some outflows in the category—relatively modest in the context of the overall asset base, which is close to $100 billion.”
He attributed this downturn mostly to hedge funds unwinding a spot–futures arbitrage trade that had “double-digit” yields in 2024 but has since dipped into the single digits. Mitchnick underscored that these outflows are mainly from short-term traders, rather than the more traditional “buy-and-hold” investor base.
A central question raised in the interview was why Bitcoin has not acted as a safe haven—similar to gold—despite persistent economic uncertainty. While gold has rallied on investor concerns about the economy, Bitcoin has not mirrored that trajectory. Mitchnick suggested that this discrepancy stems from market psychology and what he called “short-term correlation spikes.”
“Bitcoin fundamentally on a long-term basis … should be uncorrelated or even inversely correlated against certain risk factors … But now it’s been extrapolated to things that don’t really make any sense at all—tariffs, economic fears—and the market’s commentary doesn’t reflect what Bitcoin fundamentally is,” Mitchnick said.
He went on to emphasize Bitcoin’s unique attributes—its scarcity, decentralized nature, and existence “outside of any one country’s economic, political, or monetary system.” Over the long term, Mitchnick sees these properties as justifying Bitcoin’s “digital gold” comparison, but concedes that investor behavior often treats it as a high-volatility, “risk-on” asset in the short run.
When asked about the US government’s stance—particularly in light of a Trump administration authorization for a strategic Bitcoin reserve—Mitchnick was cautious, noting that “a lot still [remains] to be determined on that front.” He emphasized that: “What we have clearly seen is a pretty emphatic signal of support and conviction in this industry and particularly in Bitcoin and Bitcoin’s uniqueness … Whether and on what timeline … that might be funded, there’s a few different sources … but it’s certainly not the only source of adoption catalyst in 2025.”
Although speculation is building around whether the government will officially begin stockpiling Bitcoin, Mitchnick stressed that the broader institutional and wealth advisory community continues accumulating positions. These investors, in his view, remain “very excited” by current market conditions despite the recent downturn.
Mitchnick also addressed recent headwinds, including the ByBit hack that briefly dampened market sentiment. He suggested that heightened volatility can shake short-term traders out of the market, but longer-term, more sophisticated holders often see price dips as buying opportunities. According to Mitchnick: “Some of them were taking chips off the table a little bit in the [$100,000] range … Now they see this correction and a lot of them view it as sort of an irrational selloff … We’re trying to bring some quantitative rigor to that as well.”
At press time, BTC traded at $84,197.
Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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