06/22 update below. This post was originally published on June 20
Bitcoin, ethereum and other major cryptocurrencies were rocked last week by news the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, is delving further into the world of crypto.
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The bitcoin price jumped following BlackRock’s exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing, helping the wider crypto market—including ethereum, BNBBNB, XRPXRP, cardano, dogecoin, tron, solana and polygon—to rally (amid a flurry of bullish crypto price predictions that could happen “very quickly”).
Now, alongside BlackRock’s near-$10 trillion in assets under management potentially being opened up to the bitcoin and crypto market, a survey by Laser Digital, the digital assets subsidiary of major banking giant Nomura, has revealed 96% 0f professional investors managing almost $5 trillion are keen to invest in crypto.
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“Our comprehensive study reveals that the majority of institutional investors surveyed saw a clear role for digital assets in the investment management landscape, and the benefits they can bring, such as greater diversification of portfolios,” Laser Digital chief executive Jez Mohideen said in a statement reported by Coindesk.
The 303 professional investors surveyed represent a group that collectively manages $4.95 trillion in assets. The survey showed that 82% of the investors had a positive outlook on both bitcoin and ethereum and 88% said they or their clients were considering investing in cryptocurrencies.
Last week, just as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ramped up its pursuit of the crypto industry, BlackRock requested the SEC’s approval for a spot bitcoin ETF with Coinbase as its custodial partner.
06/05 update: Cryptocurrency fund manager Valkyrie has joined rival asset managers WisdomTree and Invesco in jumping on the BlackRock spot bitcoin ETF bandwagon. Valkyrie filed an S-1 registration form for a bitcoin spot ETF with the SEC on June 21, proposing a listing of its fund on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol BRRR, a reference to a central bank money printing meme.
Valkyrie launched the second U.S. bitcoin futures ETF in October 2021 and also runs the Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF, made up of bitcoin mining companies.
BlackRock’s interest has galvanized the crypto industry that had seen its enthusiasm sapped over recent months by regulatory action and a devastating price crash.
“As the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock’s initiative to file a bitcoin ETF shows that there is increasingly strong demand for exposure to bitcoin among its clients, which include some of the biggest institutions in the world,” Alex Adelman, the chief executive of bitcoin rewards app Lolli, said in emailed comments.
“BlackRock’s actions foretell that there will be a new wave of institutional bitcoin-related financial products to come, as other leaders on Wall Street quickly follow in BlackRock’s footsteps.”
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However, some have questioned whether BlackRock’s planned bitcoin ETF would see enough demand to “move the market.”
“The potential for a bitcoin spot ETF to move the market is not hugely clear and reliant on demand,” Simon Peters, a market analyst at eToro, said in an emailed note.
“But BlackRock manages an eye-watering amount of the world’s capital so the success of a spot ETF could unlock enormous amounts of liquidity in the market for bitcoin. The spot ETF from the firm comes with some pretty hefty caveats, such as the inclusion of surveillance data sharing to prevent market manipulation. Bitcoin proponents will likely balk at this as against the spirit of the decentralized asset, but it might likely be the price of getting such a product to market.”
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