BlackRock has submitted a filing for a new exchange-traded fund designed to give investors exposure to Bitcoin-related upside while limiting part of the losses they could face. The iShares Bitcoin Managed Protection ETF would trade under the ticker PBIT, according to the filing.
The proposed product would use options rather than holding Bitcoin or a Bitcoin ETF directly. Its arrival comes as BlackRock’s existing spot Bitcoin fund, IBIT, recorded a sharp daily inflow and continued to dominate activity among U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs.
According to Decrypt, the filing was submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The proposed fund would seek exposure to the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, known by its ticker IBIT, and potentially to similar Bitcoin-linked exposure. In return for a degree of downside protection, investors would accept a limit on potential gains.
How the proposed buffer ETF would work
PBIT would use a defined-outcome strategy built around options. The fund would buy call options on IBIT or comparable Bitcoin exposure, while selling calls with higher strike prices. The proceeds from the calls sold would help offset the cost of the options purchased.
The fund would divide its strategy into three overlapping tranches. Each tranche would have a different monthly start date, allowing one tranche to expire while another begins. It would also hold fixed-income investments, which the filing says would be used to earn interest.
For each tranche, the initial protection would generally begin at about 90% of the reference asset’s value. That means the structure would typically absorb roughly the first 10% of losses before fees. The protection is not presented as unlimited or permanent, and the filing does not establish a single fixed result for every investment period.
The amount by which gains would be capped would be determined by market conditions when each tranche starts. BlackRock would also have broad discretion to change both the protection level and the upside limit. Investors therefore would need to examine the terms applying to each tranche rather than assume that the fund would always offer the same cap or the same level of protection.
The management fee had not been completed in the filing. The fund would be registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 as part of the iShares Trust. That law governs most U.S. mutual funds and ETFs.
BlackRock expands its Bitcoin ETF lineup
PBIT would be BlackRock’s third Bitcoin ETF filing, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst James Seyffart. The asset manager currently offers crypto products tied to Bitcoin and Ethereum, and the proposed buffer fund would add a more structured approach to its Bitcoin lineup.
A buffer ETF is designed for investors who want market exposure but are willing to surrender some upside in exchange for an intended cushion against losses. In this case, the fund would not simply track Bitcoin’s price. Instead, its options-based structure would determine how much of a rise investors could capture and how much of an initial decline could be absorbed during a specific tranche period.
Similar defined-outcome Bitcoin ETFs are already offered by Calamos, First Trust and Innovator. Seyffart said BlackRock’s entry into this area would likely attract significant attention because of the firm’s scale and influence in the ETF market.
The filing does not guarantee that the fund will launch, and the material provided does not specify a launch date. It also does not state the final fee or the precise upside caps for future tranches.
IBIT leads daily ETF flows
The filing coincided with strong demand for BlackRock’s existing spot Bitcoin ETF. IBIT attracted $665.2 million on Monday, according to SoSoValue, and was the only one of the 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs to record a net inflow that day.
The other reported flows were negative. Fidelity’s FBTC saw $83.6 million leave the fund, while Grayscale’s GBTC recorded $54.9 million in outflows. Across the group, total net inflows reached $526.6 million for the day.
The result came after a period of selling. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had lost about $910 million over the preceding two weeks, including $228.6 million during the previous week and $681.1 million in the week before that. Through Friday, the funds were down about $615 million for October. The source material linked that selling period to hotter-than-expected inflation data and renewed expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase.
Since their launch in January 2024, the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have accumulated $57.4 billion in net inflows and held $105.46 billion in net assets, according to SoSoValue. IBIT alone had $66.37 billion in net assets.
Current market picture
Moneyiar market data at 11:14 a.m. Tehran time on October 21, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $83,343.13, up 2.29% over 24 hours but down 0.05% over seven days. Filecoin was $1.0416, up 3.60% in 24 hours and down 7.90% over seven days, while Decentraland was $0.08807, up 6.85% over 24 hours and down 4.15% over seven days.
