Wealth manager BlackRock has launched a mock Bitcoin private trust to give its US-based institutional clients direct exposure to the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.
Decarbonizing crypto
The company said it still sees interest from its institutional clients in accessing crypto markets through its technology despite the recent price drop. Last week, it announced that BlackRock would allow users on its Aladdin asset management platform to access Coinbase Prime.
The asset manager, which has more than $10 trillion in assets under management, said it is also exploring “permitted blockchains, stablecoins, cryptoassets and tokenization.”
In the press release, the company said it was encouraged by a plan to “decarbonize crypto”. This was created by non-profit organizations Energy Web, based in Switzerland, and RMI, based in the US. It is an important consideration for institutional investors, who have previously criticized the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.
Bitcoin and the environment
More and more figures show that reducing CO2 is important for crypto companies. In November, 74% of institutional investors surveyed by Ernst & Young said they would likely move away from companies with poor environmental, social and governance performance.
Last May, Tesla announced it would stop accepting Bitcoin as payment. CEO Elon Musk said at the time that this was due to the “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions.”
During the two months that the company accepted Bitcoin, it faced a mismatch between Tesla’s electric vehicles and the energy used to mine Bitcoin.
In April, crypto miner Blockstream announced a partnership between Tesla and Block Inc. They are collaborating on a fully solar-powered Bitcoin mining facility in Texas. It uses Tesla batteries and solar panels. Bitcoin traded at $24,200 on Thursday and had a market cap of $463 billion.
