The world’s largest assets manager, BlackRock, is looking to allow its clients to trade cryptocurrencies.
The mega asset manager is looking to start its offering with client support trading, before proceeding to offer its own credit facility for crypto trading. This is according to sources familiar with the plans. BlackRock has previously shown a favorable disposition to cryptocurrencies, and Bitcoin in particular.
BlackRock plans to offer crypto trading services
Coindesk reports that sources close to developments within BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management (AUM), say that the firm has plans around cryptocurrencies. The plans involve allowing its clients, which include some of the biggest investment funds, to trade cryptocurrencies through its integrated investment management platform called ALADIN.
The service will allow BlackRock’s client to borrow from the manager using crypto as collateral, one of the sources said. Another adds that a working group of as many as 20 persons has been set up to evaluate cryptocurrencies.
This is not the first time BlackRock is getting associated with plans around cryptocurrencies. Last year, BlackRock’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, Reick Rieder, told CNBC that the asset manager had started to get exposure in the Bitcoin space and had allocated assets to it.
Holding some portion of what you hold in cash in things like crypto seems to make some sense to me, but I wouldn’t espouse a certain allocation or target holding, Rieder said at the time.
BlackRock also trades CME Bitcoin futures and has a sizable position in Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy that boasts of being on a Bitcoin standard.
More adoption is on the way for crypto
The crypto market is seeing unprecedented levels of mainstream adoption. Many institutions that have not paid attention to the industry in the past are coming out with crypto investment strategies. This week, KPMG Canada announced that it had added Bitcoin and Ethereum to its institutional treasury.
Countries in which there have been regulatory concerns for the crypto industry are also seeking to be more friendly to the asset class. Russia is a case study of this. The government of Russia has for a while been divided over its crypto stance but has now decided it will provide regulatory clarity for the industry instead of banning it.
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