BlackRock Reveals: Giants Eye Bitcoin ETFs

Do not be deceived by the recent halt in investments into spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) after 71 straight days of inflows. Robert Mitchnick, who leads digital assets at BlackRock, believes this pause will soon end. He predicts that a new group of investors will soon enter the market. BlackRock is the biggest asset management company in the world.

Mitchnick expects that in the coming months, big financial groups will start investing in these ETFs. These groups include sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and endowments. He shared this during an interview. Mitchnick noted that there's renewed interest in Bitcoin. He said discussions are now focusing on how to include bitcoin in investment portfolios.

“Many organizations are actively researching bitcoin,” Mitchnick explained. “These include pension funds, endowments, and wealth funds. BlackRock is helping by providing education.” He added that this isn't new for BlackRock. The company has been discussing Bitcoin with these institutions for many years.

Since their approval in January, these ETFs have attracted over $76 billion. Currently, some investment advisors are offering BlackRock’s IBIT ETF. However, they only offer it if clients ask for it specifically. The next step is to offer these bitcoin ETFs more freely through large advisory firms like Morgan Stanley.

There has been a lot of talk on social media about the competition between ETFs, especially between IBIT and Grayscale’s GBTC. Right now, IBIT has $17.2 billion in assets, and GBTC has about $24.3 billion. Much of IBIT’s funding has shifted from Grayscale. Other sources include money moving from expensive ETFs in Canada or Europe. Some funds also come from bitcoin futures ETFs changing into spot ETFs.

Mitchnick also mentioned that some people prefer to keep their Bitcoin in brokerage accounts. This avoids problems with holding Bitcoin directly, like custody issues or complicated tax reporting. He emphasized that BlackRock is more interested in educating clients than in just being the largest ETF provider.

Last November, BlackRock applied to start an ether (ETH) ETF. This was shortly after CEO Larry Fink discussed the potential benefits of tokenization. This process involves representing traditional assets on blockchains.

However, launching an ether ETF brings up challenges, mainly in how to educate clients about the complex Ethereum blockchain. It also raises questions about why investors would want another crypto ETF. Especially since a bitcoin ETF might already improve their investment returns relative to risk, as shown by the Sharpe ratio.

“When we think about this space, we see the potential for digital assets to benefit our clients and capital markets, with a focus in three areas: crypto assets, stablecoins and tokenization,” Mitchnick said. “And these pillars, they're all interrelated. That's a really important thing for people to understand. And the work that we do across each informs our strategy and our insights for the others.”