BlackRock overtakes Grayscale as largest crypto fund manager

BlackRock has taken over Grayscale as the largest digital asset fund manager in assets under management (AUM). As highlighted by James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, BlackRock now holds over $22 billion in crypto, while Grayscale nears $21 billion.

The largest difference between both asset managers resides in spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). BlackRock’s IBIT took the lead back in February, one month after the ETF launched in the US, and since then has expanded to $21 billion in AUM, according to DefiLlama’s data.  

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC holdings dwindled in the period, falling to $14.2 billion. Fidelity’s FBTC is on GBTC’s tail, inching closer to $11 billion.

However, the gap in AUM among the asset managers’ Ethereum (ETH) ETFs is pending on Grayscale’s side. The ETHE holds roughly $5 billion in ETH, while BlackRock’s ETHA is yet to hit $1 billion.

Nevertheless, a similar landscape presented itself in the Bitcoin ETF market, with BlackRock gradually covering the ground and surpassing Grayscale. If history rhymes, the same could happen with Ethereum ETFs, and the numbers show that this is a likely scenario.

Less than one month after Ethereum ETFs started trading in the US, Grayscale already registered $2.3 billion in outflows from its ETHE fund, according to Farside Investors’ data. The fleeing cash was mitigated by $222 million in inflows presented by its “ETH mini trust” with the ETH ticker.

On the other hand, BlackRock’s flows amount to $966 million in the same period, quickly escalating from its $10.6 million in seed.

RWA dominance

The tokenized US Treasuries sector is also one that BlackRock managed to quickly overtake. Since the $40 million debut of its tokenized fund BUIDL on Mar. 20, BlackRock expanded its size to nearly $518 million. This is almost 13-fold growth.

In the same period, Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX fund managed to grow 21%, reaching $425 million in size.