BlackRock Launches Its First Crypto-Exposed ETF With Sizable Coinbase Allocation

By Mat Di Salvo

BlackRock, the world's biggest asset manager, has listed its iShares exchange-traded fund (ETF) to allow investors to gain exposure to the blockchain and cryptocurrency market without directly investing in crypto.

An application for the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF (IBLC) ETF was filed to the SEC in January and "seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of U.S. and non-U.S. companies that are involved in the development, innovation, and utilization of blockchain and crypto technologies."

An ETF is a popular investment product that lets people buy shares that represent an asset—be it real estate, foreign currencies, or even Bitcoin. 

This ETF will not directly track cryptocurrencies but rather U.S. and international companies involved in the space, such as exchanges. In fact, most of the new fund (11.45%) will be allocated to Coinbase, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the U.S.—and one of the biggest in the world.       

Other firms the ETF will track include Bitcoin miners Marathon Digital Holdings (11.19%) and Riot (10.41%), as well as payments giant PayPal, which first launched crypto services in 2020. 

"Blockchain tech is allowing independence and control of personal data while enabling financial inclusion for billions of unbanked consumers,” the firm says on its iShares webpage. 

The ETF comes soon after brokerage firm Fidelity launched two ETFs to track the crypto industry and the metaverse—a future, more immersive form of the internet that many big firms are already betting on. 

New York-based BlackRock, which manages a little under $10 trillion-worth of assets, has shown interest in the crypto space for some time, with its CEO last year admitting that the firm was studying Bitcoin. 

And earlier this month, the firm announced that it would become the primary asset manager of USDC cash reserves—the fiat currency backing the Circle-issued USDC stablecoin.

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