A blog post was published Thursday by BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager with more than $10 trillion in assets. It has launched trust to create a private spot Bitcoin ( Bitcoin). Only U.S. institutional investors can access the fund, which seeks to track Bitcoin’s performance and reduce the trust’s liabilities and expenses. BlackRock explained the decision by saying:
“Despite the sharp downturn in digital asset markets, we still see substantial interest from institutional clients in how to cost-effectively and efficiently access these assets through our technology and product capabilities.” Bitcoin is the oldest and largest digital asset, and it is our primary topic of interest in the digital asset space.
Private investment trusts that don’t solicit investments from retail investors are not required to register with the United States regulatory authorities. But others, such as the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, can still become publicly traded — though not Securities and Exchange Commission-registered — on the over-the-counter markets.
Bitcoin holds close to half of the industry’s market capitalization, excluding stablecoins. BlackRock stated that it is encouraged by organizations like RMI and Energy Web to use blockchain for energy. These organizations are working to make Bitcoin mining more transparent in order to ensure sustainable energy usage.
BlackRock and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase partnered last week to offer its clients direct assessment to crypto. This includes Bitcoin. Aladdin, BlackRock’s institutional investment platform, will offer crypto trading, custody and prime brokerage, as well as reporting capabilities, to those who sign up for Coinbase Prime. BlackRock also stated that it is conducting research in four areas related to digital assets: stablecoins and crypto assets, permissioned blockchains and tokenization.
