BlackRock Sees Limited Client Interest in Crypto ETF’s Beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum

At the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, revealed that the asset management giant sees “very little interest” among its clients in cryptocurrencies beyond Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). Mitchnick’s comments were made during a panel titled “From Strategy to Innovation: BlackRock’s Bitcoin Journey” on July 25.

“I would say that our client base today, their interest overwhelmingly is in Bitcoin first, and then somewhat in ETH… and there’s very little interest today beyond those two,” Mitchnick stated. He further noted that BlackRock does not anticipate a significant expansion of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) beyond these core digital assets.

BlackRock’s initial foray into crypto ETFs saw the launch of the iShares Bitcoin Trust and iShares Ethereum Trust ETF in January and July, respectively. Despite this cautious stance, other asset managers like Franklin Templeton remain optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency ETFs, including the potential introduction of a Solana product.

“Besides Bitcoin and Ethereum, there are other exciting and major developments that we believe will drive the crypto space forward,” Franklin Templeton wrote in a recent social media post.

Mitchnick emphasized that most of BlackRock’s clients view BTC and ETH as complementary assets rather than competitors. When clients invest in ETH ETFs, it typically supplements their existing crypto portfolio rather than replacing BTC holdings. However, he cautioned that data on investor flows into ETH ETFs, which only began trading on July 23, remains limited.

“The whole store of value use case within crypto is pretty definitively territory that Bitcoin owns,” Mitchnick explained. “ETH is trying to do a bunch of different applications that for the most part, Bitcoin is not trying to do. So, really, they’re more complements than they are competitors or substitutes.”

Mitchnick predicted that investors would eventually allocate around 20% of their crypto holdings to ETH, with the remaining majority going to BTC.

The conference will also feature former President Donald Trump, who has recently positioned himself as a pro-crypto candidate. Trump will deliver a keynote address and hosted a campaign fundraiser in Nashville, where he is expected to highlight his support for the crypto industry.

Trump’s campaign has raised over $4 million from digital token contributions according to CNBC, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, and the U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC. Notable contributors include crypto billionaire twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, who each donated over $1 million in Bitcoin. Trump’s campaign has mostly converted these contributions to USDC for liquidity.

Brian Hughes, a Trump campaign aide, stated, “Crypto innovators and others in the technology sector are under attack from Kamala Harris and the Democrats. While the Biden-Harris Administration stifles innovation with more regulation and higher taxes, President Trump is ready to encourage American leadership in this and other emerging technologies.”

Trump’s recent actions and statements signal his commitment to defending the rights of crypto users and fostering a more favorable regulatory environment for the industry.

Digital Assets Desk