This past Thursday, BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) announced that it will be partnering with Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) to allow its clients to purchase and trade bitcoin. Coinbase shares rose as high as 40% on the news.
On Coinbase's blog, it stated that it will offer crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage, and reporting abilities. BlackRock's investment management platform, known as Aladdin, will provide connection to Coinbase Prime in order to follow through with these tasks.
"Common clients of Aladdin and Coinbase will be able to manage their bitcoin exposures alongside their public and private investments for a whole-portfolio view of risk," BlackRock wrote in a statement.
Chairman Larry Fink of BlackRock once referred to bitcoin as "an index of money laundering" about five years ago, and now suggests a significant change in mindset. This past March, Fink informed shareholders in a letter that BlackRock was scrutinizing "digital currencies, stablecoins and the underlying technologies" in order to see how BlackRock could better be of use to its clients.
"Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets," commented Joseph Chalom, Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock. "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."
According to Coinbase, on its blog, its collaboration with BlackRock and Aladdin is a compelling step in the right direction for its company. Coinbase would ultimately like to be as innovative and engaged as possible when it comes to the crypto-economy. Coinbase strives to offer greater accessibility to the world of cryptocurrency, as well as to create clarity to those who may not have a firm grasp of it yet.
To sum it all up,"there are some good developments brewing," analyst Peter Christiansen stated to inquiring investors, assuring them that there will be a reversal in the stock world in spite of past Coinbase share declines.