The world’s largest asset manager is giving its US-based institutional clients direct exposure to Bitcoin.
BlackRock, which has $10 trillion of assets under management, has launched a spot Bitcoin private trust.
“Despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities,” a statement read, referencing its asset management technology tool Aladdin.
“Bitcoin is the oldest, largest, and most liquid cryptoasset, and is currently the primary subject of interest from our clients within the cryptoasset space. Excluding stablecoins, bitcoin maintains close to 50% of the industry’s market capitalisation.”
BlackRock is also exploring “permissioned blockchains, stablecoins, cryptoassets, and tokenisation”.
CEO Larry Fink has warmed to Bitcoin recently despite famously labelling it an “index of money laundering” five years ago.
He has attributed his change of heart to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where cryptocurrency donations have poured in to help the defending country.
BlackRock also pointed to “organisations such as RMI and Energy Web… developing programs to bring greater transparency to sustainable energy usage in bitcoin mining”.
It recently announced a partnership with Coinbase that will provide common clients of Aladdin and Coinbase access to the digital assets trading lifecycle through connectivity between Coinbase and the Aladdin platform, starting with Bitcoin.
Leveraging Coinbase’s trading, custody, prime brokerage and reporting capabilities, common clients will be able to manage their bitcoin exposures alongside their public and private investments.