A single entity offloaded $1.289 billion worth of shares in BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF in one privately negotiated transaction on Tuesday, May 27, 2026 — the largest single dark-pool trade of its kind ever flagged by a crypto researcher — as the broader ETF complex extended its longest outflow streak in more than a year.
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, flagged the transaction on X, calling it the biggest he has ever seen, according to CoinDesk, which cited his post. Thorn noted the trade cleared at 10:30 AM ET.
A dark pool is a privately negotiated venue that allows large institutional participants to execute sizable transactions without exposing order size to the public market. The mechanism exists precisely to prevent a billion-dollar sell order from signaling intent and crushing the spot price before the trade settles.
The transaction alone, however, does not equal a billion-dollar redemption from the fund. Buyers may have absorbed the volume on the other side — the net figure is what counts. IBIT's actual net redemptions for the day came to $192.44 million, per SoSoValue data. That gap between the gross dark-pool trade ($1.289B) and the net redemption ($192.44M) means significant institutional demand stepped in to offset the seller. The net number is the signal: more capital left than entered.
That outflow did not occur in isolation. Across the full roster of 11 U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, May 27 produced $334 million in total net outflows — the seventh consecutive day of net redemptions. The seven-day streak is the second-longest since the ETFs launched in January 2024, totaling $1.88 billion in net outflows. The record is eight consecutive days, reached twice: late August through early September 2024, which erased $1.2 billion, and again in February 2025, which pulled $3.3 billion. Over the trailing two weeks, investors have now pulled $2.26 billion from the ETF complex.
Bitcoin traded at $75,132 at time of publication, according to CoinDesk data — down from highs above $82,000 on May 6.
The scale of the dark-pool transaction points to an entity with both the size to move $1.289 billion in one block and the conviction to exit rather than reduce exposure in tranches. Whether that represents a risk-off rotation, a structured product unwind, or a single fund's change in mandate is not visible from the dark-pool record alone. What is visible is that net flows across the ETF complex have tilted outward for seven straight sessions, and one participant did not wait for the door to open wider.
Review note: Alex Thorn's original X post URL was not independently retrieved — the attribution above follows the editorial revision guidance: attributed as "according to CoinDesk, which cited his post." If the post URL becomes accessible, update the attribution to cite it directly. All other figures are sourced from the CoinDesk article (published and updated May 27, 2026) and SoSoValue as cited therein; Farside returned a 403 and could not independently confirm the $334M total outflow figure, which rests on CoinDesk's sourcing of SoSoValue and ETF flow aggregators.