Bitcoin Options Backed by BlackRock’s IBIT Emerge as Wall Street Favorite

BlackRock’s IBIT Overtakes Deribit as Leading Bitcoin Options Venue

Open interest in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) options climbed to nearly $38 billion after Friday’s expiry, surpassing Deribit, which had long dominated BTC options markets with $32 billion in open interest. The milestone comes less than a year after IBIT options launched in November, highlighting the growing influence of institutional capital in crypto derivatives.

IBIT, already the world’s largest spot bitcoin ETF with $84 billion in assets, has quickly become a magnet for institutional flows, consolidating liquidity within regulated U.S. markets. Meanwhile, Deribit, acquired by Coinbase for $2.9 billion in August, continues to be favored by crypto-native traders, but IBIT’s rise signals a notable structural shift in market dynamics.

Checkonchain data shows IBIT’s leverage ratio reaching 45%, near record highs. The ETF holds 770,000 BTC, with 340,000 BTC in options open interest—almost half of its underlying exposure mirrored in derivatives, reflecting the scale of speculative positioning linked to the ETF.

IBIT now accounts for 45% of global BTC options open interest, ahead of Deribit at 41.9%, while CME holds just 6%, with the remainder split among other venues. Combined, IBIT and Deribit represent nearly 90% of the bitcoin options market, demonstrating the dominance of these two platforms.

The data underscores two key points: IBIT’s rapid growth is reshaping derivatives markets, and traditional institutional venues like CME remain small relative to ETF-driven and retail-heavy exchanges.

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