- BlackRock has seen “substantial interest from some institutional clients” in crypto despite the sharp market decline
- Its new bitcoin trust follows a deal to connect the company’s Aladdin platform to Coinbase Prime
Asset management titan BlackRock has dipped a little deeper into crypto waters, revealing that it has launched a private bitcoin spot trust for US institutional clients.
“Despite the sharp decline 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,” said the company said in a statement Thursday.
The trust seeks to track the performance of bitcoin. The price of the cryptoasset stood at around $24,600 as of 9:45 a.m. ET, down around 64% from its all-time high reached last November.
BlackRock, which managed $8.5 trillion in assets as of June 30, called permissioned blockchains, stablecoins, cryptoassets and tokenization areas where it sees potential.
The company also said in the statement that it was “encouraged” by RMI and Energy Web’s monitoring programs, which it said would bring transparency to sustainable energy use in mining. of bitcoins.
A BlackRock spokesperson declined to comment.
The company’s announcement comes about a week after BlackRock partnered with Coinbase to offer institutional customers of its Aladdin platform access to bitcoin. The agreement allows Aladdin users – including asset managers, pension funds, insurers and corporate treasurers – to manage bitcoin exposure directly within their portfolio management workflows and existing negotiations.
Industry watchers and executives said the move proves institutional investors’ interest in the asset class and could spur competitors in traditional finance to follow suit.
BlackRock has slowly warmed to crypto, launching a blockchain ETF in April. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had said the previous month that the war in Ukraine could accelerate digital currency adoption.
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