BlackRock wins nod to become crypto asset firm in the UK

BlackRock has just been approved by the UK’s top financial markets regulator as a crypto asset firm.

That means that the investment giant, which has about $12 trillion of assets under management, can operate its new European Bitcoin exchange-traded product as a UK entity.

The roll-out of the new iShares Bitcoin ETP comes after BlackRock debuted its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the US in January 2024, which has since become the largest US ETF with over $47 billion of assets.

It and other US spot Bitcoin ETFs raked in over $107 billion during their first year of trading.

BlackRock declined to comment.

FCA listing

BlackRock became the 51st company to be registered as a crypto asset firm with the Financial Conduct Authority on April 1, according to the regulator’s website.

It joins a list that includes the likes of Coinbase, PayPal, and Revolut. The agency has been criticised in the past for only approving some 14% of all firms that have applied to be registered.

“We have rejected submissions that didn’t include key components necessary for us to carry out an assessment, or the poor quality of key components meant the submission was invalid,” the FCA says on its website.

The FCA didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

iShares Bitcoin ETP

The iShares Bitcoin ETP listed on the Euronext stock markets in Paris and Amsterdam last week.

It launched with a fee waiver of 10 basis points, which reduces its expense ratio to 0.15% until the end of the year.

That will make it one of the cheapest on the market until the waiver ends and it reverts to 0.25%, which will put it on par with rival products like that listed by CoinShares.

The ETP is available to both institutional and informed retail investors, according to Bloomberg.

“It reflects what really could be seen as a tipping point in the industry — the combination of established demand from retail investors with more professionals now really getting into the fold,” Manuela Sperandeo, BlackRock’s head of Europe & Middle East iShares Product, told Bloomberg.

Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.