Financial titan BlackRock reached a significant milestone by managing over $10.6 trillion in assets.
This growth of around $1.3 trillion in one year is largely driven by the soaring inflows into its ETFs.
The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), BlackRock’s largest spot Bitcoin ETF, holds more than $19.4 billion in Bitcoin, securing a 35.2% market share among US Bitcoin ETFs. The firm’s significant market influence means its trading activities can considerably impact Bitcoin’s price.
In the second quarter of 2024, investors poured $83 billion into BlackRock’s ETFs, bringing the year-to-date total to over $150 billion. This influx resulted in an 8% revenue increase and an 11% rise in operating income year-over-year.
Larry Fink, the company’s CEO, attributes part of this success to BlackRock’s strong corporate and governmental relationships, enhancing its capital partnership in private markets.
Bitcoin’s price recently rose to almost $63,000 due to positive BTC ETF inflows, optimistic views on a potential rate cut by the Fed this year and the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen net positive inflows for two consecutive weeks, totaling over $414 million, with BlackRock leading the charge on July 12, attracting over $120 million in investments.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has spotlighted a significant acceleration in institutional crypto adoption, driven largely by the surging popularity of exchange-traded funds and increased use of Coinbase Prime among major corporations.
Jefferies chief market strategist David Zervos believes an upcoming power shift at the Federal Reserve could benefit U.S. equity markets.
Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto custody bank, is urging its institutional clients to move away from major stablecoins like USDC, Agora USD (AUSD), and Usual USD (USD0), recommending instead a shift to the Global Dollar (USDG) — a stablecoin issued by Paxos and backed by a consortium that includes Anchorage itself.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has voiced concerns over the rise of zero-knowledge (ZK) digital identity projects, specifically warning that systems like World — formerly Worldcoin and backed by OpenAI’s Sam Altman — could undermine pseudonymity in the digital world.