BLACKROCK LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAIN-RELATED ETF IN EUROPE

“We believe that digital assets and blockchain technologies will become increasingly relevant to our clients as use cases develop in scope, scale and complexity,” said Omar Mufti, Product Strategist at BlackRock.

The world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has launched an ETF on blockchain in Europe that offers exposure to major companies in the sector. The fund is called “iShare Blockchain Technology UCITS ETF” and allows European clients to increase their exposure in the blockchain space through leading companies in the sector.

It takes its model from the one launched by BlackRock in the United States and puts together 35 blockchain companies, with the largest allocations toward Coinbase, Galaxy Digital and Marathon Digital. Other companies in the fund include PayPal, Nvidia and IBM. 

In an effort to summarize the percentages, 75 percent of the companies are related to exchanges or mining, while the remaining 25 percent support the ecosystem.

A fund that will be accessible on regulated markets throughout Europe and will allow the use of direct access to markets.

Blackrock’s exposure to the digital circuit continues after the company had recently reported increased interest in cryptocurrencies from institutions (public pension funds, endowments, and sovereign wealth funds).

It had reacted to this solicitation with a partnership with Coinbase Global to enable its institutional clients to access cryptocurrencies through Aladdin – BlackRock’s end-to-end investment management platform – with Coinbase Prime to enable the manager’s institutional clients to access cryptocurrencies directly, starting with Bitcoin only for the time being (client demand will determine whether it expands to other digital currencies).

But BlackRock’s stake (16.3 percent) in MicroStrategy, a company famous for its substantial investment in Bitcoin, signals interest as well as the consistency of the largest investment firm in the world based in New York.