In partnership with Securitize, BlackRock, Inc. BLK has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to offer a tokenized private equity fund, BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund Ltd.
It is unclear what assets the fund will hold. Given Securitize's presence, the fund is expected to tokenize real assets. The application sets the minimum outside investor investment at $100,000.
Tokenization, a growing trend for efficiency, involves buying securities as digital assets on blockchains. A few months after listing a spot Bitcoin ETF, BLK is offering the above product.
The SEC approved spot Bitcoin ETFs in January, changing how investors perceive and trade cryptocurrency. The SEC rejected crypto investment applications and fined crypto scammers for years, warning of the risks of the unregulated crypto markets.
However, when BLK filed for the first spot Bitcoin ETF in June 2023, other asset managers, including Fidelity, have started trading them. After BLK filed for a spot Ethereum ETF, iShares Ethereum Trust, with the SEC in November 2023, Ethereum prices rose to their greatest level last year before falling.
Spot Ether ETF trading is still pending SEC approval. BLK's Ethereum ETF filing was postponed by the SEC earlier this month. The regulator wants to determine if spot Bitcoin ETF arguments apply to Ether ETFs.
The SEC wants to know if spot Ether ETFs are manipulable. It also wonders if spot and futures Ether exchange-traded vehicles are identical. Despite the hazards, more investors are buying cryptocurrencies. Many asset managers want to grow into digital assets.
Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN became the ninth crypto company to request an Ethereum ETF last month. All firms aiming to introduce spot Ethereum ETFs launched spot Bitcoin products in January, including BEN.
In a January interview, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Bitcoin and Ether ETFs “are just stepping stones towards tokenization and I really do believe this is where we're going to be going.” Over the past six months, BLK shares have risen 20% against 23.2% for the industry.
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