BlackRock to offer crypto to institutional clients via Coinbase

BlackRock (NYSE: BLK), the world’s leading investment manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management, will use Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) to provide direct crypto access to its institutional clients, according to news shared by Coinbase on Thursday.

The news was announced via a blog post authored by Brett Tejpaul, head of Coinbase Institutional and Greg Tusar,  Coinbase VP of Institutional Product.

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According to Tejpaul and Tusar, BlackRock and the US-based crypto platform have partnered to offer crypto to institutional clients of Aladdin, the end-to-end investment management arm of BlackRock.

In this arrangement, Coinbase Prime will provide Aladdin clients access to crypto custody, trading, and prime brokerage, as reporting capabilities. And at least initially, clients will have “direct access to crypto, starting with bitcoin,” Tejpaul and Tusar added.

However, the service is only available to institutional clients that are customers of both companies.

Increased client demand

The partnership comes as BlackRock’s institutional clients increasingly seek exposure to crypto markets, the company’s global head of partnerships Joseph Chalom said in a statement. He added:

This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.”

Coinbase Prime launched its Institutional offering in May 2021 and provides services to thousands of clients, with over 100 digital assets accessible on multiple blockchains. One of Coinbase Institutional’s latest offerings is Ethereum (ETH) staking, announced on 1 August.

In terms of  clients, the platform counts financial institutions, hedge funds, asset allocators, and corporate treasuries among others.