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 could also be stronger than its price implies. Despite significant hopes pinned on regulatory developments and a “crypto-friendly” turn on the White House, Bitcoin has spent the early months of 2025 hovering across the mid-$80,000 range, prompting questions on what catalysts might drive the subsequent price rally.

Is Bitcoin Undervalued?

Mitchnick acknowledged that Bitcoin began showing considerable strength toward the tip of 2024. “Bitcoin remains to be up, let’s call it 15% or so because the starting of November,” he noted. This rally, he explained, was fueled by a mixture of institutional interest and optimism surrounding potential government endorsement by the Trump administration.

Nevertheless, he cautioned that “accelerated, perhaps premature expectations of just how quickly a few of these catalysts would start to reach” may need contributed to the market’s newer price stagnation. Based on Mitchnick, many investors and traders anticipated a direct spike following the White House’s pro-crypto moves. When those gains didn’t 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, well known for bringing a latest 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 begin has been more negative. We’ve seen some outflows within the category—relatively modest within the context of the general asset base, which is near $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 one digits. Mitchnick underscored that these outflows are mainly from short-term traders, somewhat than the more traditional “buy-and-hold” investor base.

A central query raised within the interview was why Bitcoin has not acted as a refuge—just like gold—despite persistent economic uncertainty. While gold has rallied on investor concerns concerning 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 … ought to be uncorrelated and even inversely correlated against certain risk aspects … But now it’s been extrapolated to things that don’t really make any sense in any respect—tariffs, economic fears—and the market’s commentary doesn’t reflect what Bitcoin fundamentally is,” Mitchnick said.

He went on to emphasise Bitcoin’s unique attributes—its scarcity, decentralized nature, and existence “outside of anybody country’s economic, political, or monetary system.” Over the long run, 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 within the short run.

When asked concerning the US government’s stance—particularly in light of a Trump administration authorization for a strategic Bitcoin reserve—Mitchnick was cautious, noting that “rather a lot still [remains] to be determined on that front.” He emphasized that: “What we now have clearly seen is a reasonably emphatic signal of support and conviction on this industry and particularly in Bitcoin and Bitcoin’s uniqueness … Whether and on what timeline … that is perhaps funded, there’s a couple of different sources … nevertheless it’s definitely not the one source of adoption catalyst in 2025.”

Although speculation is constructing around whether the federal 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. Based on Mitchnick: “A few of them were taking chips off the table a little bit bit within the [$100,000] range … Now they see this correction and loads of them view it as form of an irrational selloff … We’re attempting 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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