BlackRock Files for Buffer Bitcoin ETF PBIT as IBIT Draws $665M in a Day

BlackRock filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to launch the iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF, a "buffer" fund trading under the ticker PBIT that caps investor gains in exchange for limiting losses. The management fee was not disclosed. The fund would not hold Bitcoin or Bitcoin ETFs directly. It would buy call options on the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) and sell higher-priced calls to offset costs across three overlapping tranches with staggered monthly start dates, alongside fixed-income holdings to earn interest. Each tranche's protection typically starts at about 90% of the reference asset's value, capping initial losses near 10% before fees, while gain limits are set by market conditions and subject to broad fund discretion. The filing came as IBIT, the largest spot Bitcoin ETF with $66.37 billion in net assets, took in $665.2 million on Monday — the only net inflow among the 12 funds, per SoSoValue. Fidelity's FBTC lost $83.6 million and Grayscale's GBTC $54.9 million, leaving total net inflows of $526.6 million.