After several speculations in the past, the world’s largest investment management company BlackRock has finally ventured into the cryptocurrency industry. Now, the investment manager is betting on Bitcoin following a new private trust offering launched today and another service being developed in collaboration with Coinbase, the largest US digital currency trading platform.
BlackRock announced its Bitcoin private trust on Thursday, noting that the offering will enable its US-based institutional client direct exposure to spot BTC. The company already offers crypto-related investment products to clients.
However, the BTC trust offering will provide the investors direct exposure to the actual market performance or price of the underlying asset efficiently and cost-effectively.
However, the BTC trust offering will provide the investors direct exposure to the actual market performance or price of the underlying asset efficiently and cost-effectively.
“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.”
Right now, BlackRock is betting big on Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market. The new private trust offering is primarily aimed at providing the company’s institutional clients access to Bitcoin. Additionally, the new crypto service planned with Coinbase for Aladdin common clients will only support Bitcoin at launch.
On the corporate level, BlackRock currently holds or is exposed to Bitcoin, but indirectly through MicroStrategy. As of February 2022, BlackRock owned 613,363 shares or a 7.3% stake in the business intelligence company, which is presently a top public-traded Bitcoin investor. MicroStrategy currently holds 129,699 BTC, an equivalent of $3.1 billion at today’s market price.
Given that BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world, the new initiative from the company is considered bullish for Bitcoin. It will unlock more institutional access to the leading cryptocurrency.