Bitcoin is the number one crypto investment choice among BlackRock’s clients, who have little interest in getting access to other coins, according to Robert Mitchnick – the firm’s Head of Digital Assets.
The representative’s words are sobering for the blockchain industry, much of which bore hopes of the world’s largest asset manager taking the broader crypto asset class to the traditional financial world.
As reported by Fox Business journalist Eleanor Terrett, Mitchnick said that Bitcoin is “overwhelmingly the number one priority” for BlackRock’s client base.
“Then a little bit of Ethereum, and very little everything else,” Mitchnick added during the Bitcoin Investor Day conference on Friday – a gathering of institutional capital allocators interested in Bitcoin.
While acknowledging the crypto community’s desire for BlackRock to adopt other tokens, he said “That’s just not where we’re focused.”
BlackRock launched its U.S. Bitcoin spot ETF alongside nine other providers on January 11. Since that day, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has been the most successful by far, absorbing $13.3 billion inflows, and cementing itself as the most successful ETF launch in history.
When asked about Bitcoin’s role on Wall Street in ten years, Mitchnick said:
“Eventually we expect there will be a convergence where the best of the old system and the new technology will become fused into a new infrastructure system in finance.”
The asset manager has also filed to launch an Ethereum (ETH) spot ETF, mimicking rivals like Grayscale and Fidelity. However, a lack of engagement with their applications from regulators and a recent investigation into the Ethereum Foundation have analysts predicting that the application will not be approved any time soon.
Even if approved, experts also doubt that the Ethereum ETFs will gain nearly as much traction as Bitcoin-based equivalents.
“This is such small potatoes vs spot bitcoin ETFs,” said Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas on the matter earlier this month. “It’s like the opening act coming on after the headliner.”
A survey from Bitwise published in January found that 71% of investment advisors preferred Bitcoin over Ethereum.
That said, BlackRock has taken a strong interest in real-world assets on the blockchain, with plans to launch an institutionally focused tokenized asset fund in collaboration with Securitize.