At a whopping $10.5 trillion, Blackrock, the biggest asset manager in the world, broke its previous record for assets under management (AUM). With its Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which has accumulated around 270K bitcoins, this financial goliath also maintains its dominance in the US spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund field.
IBIT Now Owns Almost 270K Bitcoins
The largest asset manager in the world, Blackrock, revealed its financial results on Friday for the first quarter that concluded on March 31. The data showed that assets under management (AUM) had reached a record $10.5 trillion, up $1.4 trillion from the prior year.
Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the asset manager’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) for spot bitcoin, has remained the market leader in the United States. IBIT had over 269,314 BTC in bitcoin as of April 11, giving it a notional value of nearly $18.9 billion.
As of April 11, IBIT’s holdings of bitcoin. Source: The website Ishares.
According to recent statements made by Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, IBIT is “the fastest growing ETF in the history of ETFs.” He went on to say that he is “pleasantly surprised” by the retail demand for Blackrock’s spot bitcoin ETF and that he is “very bullish on the long-term viability of Bitcoin.”
As of last week, Blackrock has nine approved participants in the fund, according to an addendum it filed to its IBIT prospectus. These include Virtu Americas, ABN AMRO Clearing USA, Jane Street Capital, JP Morgan Securities, Citadel Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Goldman Sachs, and Macquarie Capital (USA).
In addition, Blackrock has submitted a proposal to start a spot ether exchange-traded fund (ETF) with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Although there has been some hope that the SEC will approve applications for spot ether ETFs by the deadline in May, doubts are mounting. CEO of investment company Vaneck, Jan Van Eck, recently voiced his skepticism, expecting his company’s application to be denied in May.
Furthermore, there have been rumors that the SEC is attempting to categorize ether as a security. Fink, though, thinks Blackrock can still introduce a spot ether ETF even if ETH is categorized as a security.
In an effort to facilitate the exchange of shares for USDC through Circle, financial technology company and stablecoin provider Circle on Thursday unveiled smart contract capabilities for holders of the Blackrock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL).
Regarding Blackrock’s spot bitcoin ETF holdings, what are your thoughts? Tell us in the space provided for comments below.