The world’s largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM) BlackRock, has announced that it has direct exposure to bitcoin (BTC) to offer to customers. Because BlackRock is an absolute giant within the financial world, the impact of this step can be very large.
BlackRock and Bitcoin
It was also recently announced that BlackRock, in collaboration with the American crypto exchange Coinbase, will enable institutions to trade cryptocurrencies. This was big news, as BlackRock previously stood on the sidelines. It now appears that the company will also offer other options for institutional investors to invest in cryptocurrencies.
The new trust fund is intended for US institutions and it offers them the opportunity to gain direct exposure to bitcoin through BlackRock. The company had the following to say about this new step in a press release:
“Despite the sharp decline in the digital asset market, we are still seeing significant interest from some institutional clients for efficient and cost-effective access to these assets using our technology and product capabilities,”
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink also said in an interview that he clearly sees that interest in bitcoin is huge right now. This while just over a year ago Fink stated that interest in digital assets was very low. Evidently, sentiment among institutional investors has turned quite a bit since then.
BlackRock CEO says, “The hits on BlackRock’s website were: 3,000 hits on COVID, 3,000 hits on monetary policy, and 600,000 hits on #bitcoin
This tells us #bitcoin has caught the attention and imagination of people”pic.twitter.com/xRV8fhgDnh
— Documenting Bitcoin 📄 (@DocumentingBTC) August 11, 2022
The hits on BlackRock’s website were: 3,000 hits on COVID, 3,000 hits on monetary policy, and 600,000 hits on bitcoin. This tells us that bitcoin has grabbed people’s attention and imagination.”
Institutional bitcoin adoption
This new move by BlackRock also clearly shows that the institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies is really gaining momentum. BlackRock is one of the biggest names in the world and as such also has an important role model. The fact that they are now starting to embrace the crypto industry, albeit somewhat sparsely, sends a clear signal to the rest of the financial world.
Perhaps more companies and asset managers will now dare to work with the crypto industry.