BlackRock Partners With  Kraken For Its New Crypto Offering

  • The entrance of BlackRock into the cryptocurrency market is a testament to the huge potential of digital assets. 
  • According to a recent report by Bitstamp, 69 percent of institutional investors in the United States are actively recommending cryptocurrency.
  • According to the second quarter 2022 earnings report, BlackRock reported $90 billion of quarterly total net inflows. 

BlackRock Inc. (NYSE: BLK), an asset management company with approximately $10 trillion in AUM, has announced that it will use crypto exchange Kraken’s CF Benchmarks’ bitcoin index for its new crypto offering.

For clarification purposes, CF Benchmarks is a member of the Crypto Facilities group of companies, which is in turn a member of the Payward group of companies. The Payward group is the owner and operator of the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. The Kraken cryptocurrency exchange is a source of input data for CF Benchmarks indices.

Notably, BlackRock announced a strategic partnership with Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN) to make bitcoin directly available to its institutional clients. Additionally, the asset management company shortly after launched a spot Bitcoin private trust for the U.S.-based institutional investors.

“As the provider of the robust high-integrity benchmarks that enable asset managers to properly value their financial products, CF Benchmarks is proud to have played this integral role in helping facilitate the entrance of new investors and capital into the still-nascent asset class,” CF Benchmarks CEO Sui Chung noted.

BlackRock and the Cryptocurrency Market Outlook

The entrance of BlackRock into the cryptocurrency market is a testament to the huge potential of digital assets. According to a recent report by Bitstamp, 69 percent of institutional investors in the United States are actively recommending cryptocurrency.

Publicly traded companies like MicroStrategy Inc. (NASDAQ: MSTR), and Metromile Inc. (NASDAQ: MILE) holds 129,699 and 25 BTC respectively. The increased regulations in the cryptocurrency market has attracted institutional investors seeking a hedge against the inflationary fiat market.

Moreover, the United States dollar has been losing value against other notable global markets like Europe and its EURO.

According to the second quarter 2022 earnings report, BlackRock reported $90 billion of quarterly total net inflows.  Notably, the company reported a 6 percent decrease in revenue year-over-year. However, BlackRock noted that it recorded a 5 percent increase in technology services revenue year-over-year.

The cryptocurrency market with its underlying technology blockchain has been described as the fastest growing global market. Furthermore, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has scaled to over $1 trillion in less than a decade. 

According to our market data, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at around $1 trillion from over 12,000 coins. 

Bitcoin has continued to lead in institutional interest over the past few years, closely followed by Ethereum. Arguably, Ethereum is dubbed to have the largest potential to scale due to its utility value on smart contracts. Nevertheless, Bitcoin developers are working on onboarding smart contracts through layer 1s and the lightning network.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Laurence D. Fink thinks Bitcoin will be the winning horse over time. However, his stance is likely to change over time with the blockchain and cryptocurrency evolving fast.

susan keith
Susan Keith Verified Author

I'm passionate about cryptocurrency. I began following the development of Bitcoin and other digital currencies in early 2013, and quickly became fascinated by the potential of this new technology. In the years since, I've followed the rise of the crypto industry with close attention, and written extensively on the subject. .

Latest News