Goldman Sachs named as authorized participant on BlackRock bitcoin ETF

More traditional finance players are entering the spot bitcoin ETF realm — albeit not yet as issuers — after the successful launches of such products. 

Goldman Sachs is among the new slate of authorized participants named for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), according to a Thursday regulatory filing.

The world’s largest asset manager also named UBS Securities, Citigroup Global Markets, Citadel Securities and ABN AMRO Clearing USA as authorized participants, the disclosure notes. 

Read more: ETFs helped ‘legitimize’ bitcoin ahead of halving: Q&A

Authorized participants, or APs, are specialized entities — often large financial institutions — that create and redeem shares of an ETF. The shares can typically then be exchanged for a similar basket of securities reflecting the holdings of the ETF, or for cash. This process plays a critical role in ensuring the liquidity and price accuracy of ETF shares in the market.

“Takeaway: Big time firms now want [a] piece of action and/or are now OK being publicly associated [with] this,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas said in an X post.

BlackRock launched IBIT, along with nine similar competing funds, on Jan. 11. The iShares product launched with four authorized participants, a Jan. 9 filing indicates: Jane Street Capital, JPMorgan Securities, Macquarie Capital and UBS Securities. 

The disclosure comes after the BlackRock fund has seen nearly three months of consistent net inflows. 

IBIT has tallied more than $14 billion of net inflows since hitting the market — nearly double that of the category’s second-highest flow gatherer: the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC).  

Additional authorized participants may be added at any time, BlackRock said in both filings.

Spokespeople for BlackRock and Goldman Sachs did not immediately return a request for comment.

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