BlackRock (BLK  ) is reportedly preparing to offer a cryptocurrency trading service to its investor clients, according to CoinDesk.

The New York-based firm is the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management, and it plans to enter the cryptocurrency space with "client support trading and then with their own credit facility." Clients would be able to borrow from BlackRock by pledging crypto assets as collateral.

The report claims BlackRock will allow its clients such as public pensions, university endowments, and sovereign wealth funds to trade cryptocurrency through Aladdin, its integrated investment management platform. The firm first began hiring for an Aladdin blockchain strategy lead in June.

BlackRock has recently shown some positive signs regarding crypto, like trading CME Bitcoin futures, and it also plans to debut the iShares Blockchain and Tech ETF soon. BlackRock's timetable for launching the new crypto trading service is unclear, and the firm declined to comment on the report.

Here is the rest of the week in review:

Polygon has raised a $450 million investment led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Sequoia that increases its new valuation to $2 billion. Polygon cofounder Sandeep Nailwal said he envisions the firm becoming a decentralized version of Amazon Web Services (AMZN  ), the ecommerce giant's cloud computing unit: "Web3 for me means ownership, censorship resistance and verified compute." Polygon's grander ambitions form part of a movement called "Web3," a tech concept referring to efforts to develop a more decentralized version of the Internet based on blockchain technology. Polygon currently serves as a support layer to the Ethereum blockchain, the platform behind Ether (ETH), helping it process transactions at larger scale. Polygon sits on top of the Ethereum network as a proof-of-stake blockchain, helping Ethereum better deal with slower transaction times and higher gas fees. Polygon claims it has completed over a billion transactions to date and boasts around 2.7 million monthly active users.

Alchemy announced Tuesday it has raised a $200 million Series C1 funding round that brings its total raised to $545.5 million and increases its new valuation from $3.5 billion in October to a whopping $10.2 billion. Returning backer Lightspeed Venture Partners and new investor private equity firm Silver Lake led the latest round, with participation from previous investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, DFJ, Pantera, and Lee Fixel's Addition. The blockchain infrastructure startup's mission is to become the starting place for developers considering building a product on top of a blockchain or blockchain applications. Its developer platform aims to remove the complexity and costs of building infrastructure while improving applications via necessary developer tools. The firm said it has been profitable since August 2020, seen its users surge 3 times since last October, and powered $105 billion worth of annualized on-chain transactions. The firm earns revenue by charging for computing units. Alchemy plans to use the fresh capital to hire more talent and reach 200 employees.

Crypto prices edged down to $1.87 trillion this week amid choppy trading. For the majors, Solana (SOL) plunged, while XRP surged. In the top 100, the biggest decliners were BORA, down 24%, NEAR Protocol, down 20%, and Mina (MINA), down 18%. The biggest gainers were Elrond (EGLD), up 22%, XRP, up 21%, and UNUS SED LEO (LEO), up 12.5%. Next week traders will watch if Bitcoin (BTC) stays above the $40,000 level.

The author owns a small amount of BTC.