Upping the Ante: Deconstructing the BlackRock and Coinbase Integration

BlackRock and Coinbase are partnering to offer an integration of Blackrock’s asset management platform with Coinbase Prime, Coinbase’s institutional tool. This will give institutional investors access to crypto currencies. This puts them at the forefront of institutional adoption and in competition with Fidelity Digital Assets, which is rolling out its own product. We think this partnership and the resulting competition could open the floodgates and for a significant amount of institutional capital flowing into crypto and digital currencies. For institutional investors, the biggest hurdle to crypto has been regulation, but available tools and technology have also been a stumbling block. BlackRock’s Aladdin portfolio management system can now provide a holistic experience that embraces traditional assets, alternative assets, and digital assets. This combination of custodial support, analytics, visualization, and reporting services around cryptocurrencies translates into a robust toolkit. From a brokerage standpoint, the ability to apply trading algorithms built on real-time spot and derivative data is a valuable enhancement. Custodial integrations will allow investors to get a unified view of their assets and help wealth managers improve their servicing propositions. We believe this partnership shows that institutional investors are looking beyond the crypto winter and building for the future.

Companies Mentioned:

Binance, BlackRock, Coinbase, Crypto.com, Eaglebrook Advisors, Fidelity, HeightZero, Onramp Invest