{"id":207,"date":"2026-02-18T14:21:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/?p=207"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:21:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T14:21:49","slug":"bitcoin-etfs-see-105m-in-outflows-amid-disclosure-of-enigmatic-hong-kong-buyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/?p=207","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin ETFs See $105M in Outflows Amid Disclosure of Enigmatic Hong Kong Buyer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market is experiencing a period of cooling activity. In the opening session of the week, these funds recorded a combined net outflow of <strong>$104.9 million<\/strong>. Trading volumes have also seen a sharp decline, sliding to roughly <strong>$3 billion<\/strong>\u2014an 80% drop from the record-breaking $14.7 billion high seen on February 5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Rise of a &#8220;Ghost&#8221; Whale<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>While capital flowed out of the sector, Q4 2025 SEC filings revealed a massive new entrant in BlackRock\u2019s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). A mysterious Hong Kong entity named <strong>Laurore<\/strong> disclosed a massive <strong>$436.2 million<\/strong> position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The firm has raised eyebrows across the industry due to its lack of a digital footprint. Jeff Park, an advisor at Bitwise Investments, pointed out that the company has no website or public records, and the listed filer, &#8220;Zhang Hui,&#8221; is a name as common in China as &#8220;John Smith.&#8221; This has led to speculation that Laurore might represent institutional Chinese capital or a significant move toward capital flight, though some analysts wonder why such an entity would use a U.S. ETF rather than direct spot purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Institutional Rebalancing: The Bulls and the Bears<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest disclosures highlight a dramatic reshuffling of portfolios among major financial players:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>The Accumulators:<\/strong> Market maker <strong>Jane Street<\/strong> became the second-largest IBIT buyer in Q4 with a <strong>$276 million<\/strong> purchase. Abu Dhabi\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, <strong>Mubadala<\/strong>, increased its stake by 45%, bringing its total IBIT holdings to over <strong>$630 million<\/strong>. Weiss Asset Management and 59 North Capital also added significant positions totaling over $200 million combined.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The Sellers:<\/strong> In a sharp reversal, <strong>Brevan Howard<\/strong> slashed its IBIT exposure by <strong>85%<\/strong>, offloading nearly $2.1 billion in shares. Banking giant <strong>Goldman Sachs<\/strong> followed suit, trimming its position by 40% while maintaining roughly $1 billion in the fund.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF market is experiencing a period of cooling activity. In the opening session of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eft"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=207"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207\/revisions\/209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1stblock.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}