BlackRock Inc. (ticker: BLK) is the world’s largest money manager, with $9.4 trillion in assets under management. The majority of this money is invested in traditional financial markets, such as stocks, bonds, funds, currencies, derivatives, real estate, and commodities. While there has been little public discussion about the investment firm’s growing interest in cryptocurrencies, signs have been dropped in the past few years.
In November 2020, BlackRock’s Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income, Rick Rieder, said that Bitcoin had the potential to “take the place of gold to a large extent”. BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, noted that Bitcoin was resonating with the public and may create its own global market in the future. In December, BlackRock advertised for a Vice President of Blockchain to drive strategies to increase demand for the firm’s offerings.
The investment firm announced in November 2023 that it had filed for a spot Ethereum (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF). BlackRock is not the only one in the running for the first spot Ethereum ETF. Grayscale Investments, who recently won a legal victory against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in its bid for a spot Bitcoin ETF, is also pursuing a spot Ethereum ETF. The SEC has given itself until January 2024 to make a decision or extend the deadline.
Fidelity also put in an application for a spot Ethereum ETF, and at least five other top investment houses have now joined the competition. The SEC has yet to approve either a spot Bitcoin or a spot Ethereum ETF, which would directly own Bitcoin and Ether rather than futures tied to the cryptos.
BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF application is also in the works and talks between the SEC, Grayscale, Fidelity, and others have progressed to a discussion of technical details, indicating that they may soon be approved, as per a Reuters report in December.
Industry investment experts say that BlackRock entering the market should give a boost to the crypto industry in the short term, and potentially in the long term. Companies like BlackRock recognize the potential for market growth and the opportunity to profit from it, hence why they aim to be the first to penetrate the market. With the BlackRock brand and other
