Asset manager Blackrock launches a Bitcoin trust for U.S. institutional clients. According to Blackrock, despite the recent price drop, there is a lot of interest from these parties to have BTC in their portfolio.

Blackrock is the largest asset manager in the world with 8.5 trillion under management. Their new Bitcoin product sends an important message: this company of repute absolutely wants to continue with crypto and is not discouraged by price drops.

It is the second major move into digital assets in a week from Blackrock. On August 4, BlackRock and crypto exchange Coinbase announced a partnership to allow investors to trade Bitcoin with BlackRock's Aladdin, the firm's portfolio and risk management platform.

Blackrock is not the only major player continuing to bet on crypto. Citigroup, for example, is building a 100-strong digital assets division. It recently appointed a DeFi and stablecoin risk manager.

No Bitcoin ETF yet

Blackrock's trust tracks the market (spot) price of Bitcoin as closely as possible. Strictly speaking it is not an ETF but it behaves like one: it gives parties like pension funds a way to invest in Bitcoin in a way that feels familiar to them - of course, they will not buy a hardware wallet and put some crypto on it!

For years there has been a demand from many in the financial sector in the US for an actual Bitcoin spot ETF. The US securities regulator SEC does not want one - but allows other products. Blackrock thinks it's unlikely if will submit a proposal for an ETF product itself.