BlackRock ETF: $ 384 million invested in bitcoin mining

BlackRock ETFs Have Substantially Entered Bitcoin Mining with a stake in Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) and Riot Blockchain (RIOT), for a total value of almost $ 384 million.

According to Forbes reports, it appears that BlackRock, the New York-based global investment giant, is keen to invest in the world of bitcoin mining.

And in fact, the document filed on June 30 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals that BlackRock ETFs hold a 6.71% stake in Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) and a 6.61% stake in Riot Blockchain (RIOT).

This represents an investment of $ 207 million in MARA shares and $ 176 million in RIOT shares.

Blackrock in the world of cryptocurrencies

Moreover, it is not new that BlackRock is interested in the world of cryptocurrencies. In April 2021, the acquisition by the multinational of 37 bitcoins futures of the CME or Chicago Mercantile Exchange was formalized by an SEC document.

Specifically, this was the Bitcoin CME FUT MAR21 XCME 20210326, which expired on March 26, 2021. From what emerged, the investment was $ 6.5 million, an average price of ‘around $ 35,000 per BTC, while the value at their expiration was around $ 9.8 million.

BlackRock ETF and bitcoin mining

Among Blackrock’s hundreds of hedge funds and ETFs, its iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF and its iShares Expanded Tech-Software sector hold shares of cryptocurrency mining companies. Specifically, it’s BlackRock IShares Russell 2000 ETF which owns more shares of MARA and RIOT than any other ETF.

BlackRock’s new choice to participate in a bitcoin mining company is one of the latest significant trends for traditional financial institutions to want to be exposed to cryptocurrency with a focus on US-based miners.

Among the many reasons, there is surely the fact that Bitcoin mining revenues have significantly increased in the past three weeks. We are talking about profits more than doubled, going from $ 0.17 per day per THash / s on July 27 to more than $ 0.4 in mid-August.

This undoubtedly happened due to the BTC price increase and the associated premium for minors if quantified in $, and also thanks to the adjustment of the algorithm to the mining difficulty has fallen to its lowest peak of the year.

An adjustment also sees the two companies chosen by BlackRock benefit enormously, especially since elimination of competitors on Chinese territory (due to restrictive ban in China this year).

Big investor support wants to reward cryptocurrency miners from other countries, as does BlackRock’s ETF for choosing to invest in shares of Las Vegas, Nevada-based Marathon and Denver-based Riot. , Colorado.

The problem with Bitcoin ETFs in the United States

While staying on US territory, another problem is related to Bitcoin ETFs, that is, those directly related to the cryptocurrency asset.

In reality, SEC continues to delay all bitcoin ETF approval requests for at least two years.

Among the cases is the Wisdom Tree application, which was originally filed with the SEC on March 26 but repeatedly postponed, most recently last month.

The rationale for continued deferral is always to want additional feedback, especially to ensure that a bitcoin ETF might not be susceptible to manipulation or how applicants can prevent fraudulent acts.

Despite this, apps continue to fall on the SEC table, and for some cryptocurrency players, approval has only become a matter of time. Brian armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, specifically stated that given the continued interest of institutional investors in bitcoin, the SEC could start approve them at the end of this 2021.

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