In a marked shift in the digital asset landscape, the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, has signaled stronger alignment with public blockchain networks, especially Ethereum, on permitted alternatives. This key insight emerged during the meeting “Beyond Bitcoin ETF – What’s next in the institutional roadmap?” panel at Coinbase’s State of Crypto Summit 2024 on Thursday.
BlackRock doubles the price on Ethereum
Samara Cohen, BlackRock’s chief investment officer for ETFs and indexes, presented a mighty stance on the evolution of blockchain technology in financial markets. Cohen stated: “A few years ago we thought permissioned private blockchains would be the way to go. We now realize that public blockchains are better for the ecosystem.”
Her remarks at the summit reflect a broader consensus that is quietly forming among established market participants, who favor open-source platforms like Ethereum to avoid liquidity fragmentation and ensure broader, more effective market share.
Blackrock CIO for ETF and Index Investments @Samaraepcohen said today at a Coinbase event that permissioned blockchains have lost ground and that established market participants are uniting around open source #Ethereum for tokenization so as not to fragment liquidity 👍
— Matthew Sigel, CFA recovery (@matthew_sigel) June 13, 2024
This pivot is in line with BlackRock’s recent initiative, which launched its first tokenization project on the Ethereum blockchain in March. In cooperation with the American company Securitize, BlackRock tokenized the “Institutional Digital Liquidity” fund. The move provided the platform with initial liquidity of $100 million denominated in USD Coin (USDC). The fund invests primarily in cash, short-term debt securities and US Treasuries, using the Ethereum architecture to facilitate its operations.
Hunter Horsley, CEO of Bitwise, further confirmed BlackRock’s move towards public blockchains. Speaking separately, Horsley highlighted finally putting an end to the long-running debate between the merits of permissive and disallowed blockchains, stating: “It used to be a debate. Quietly, the will was settled: without permission.
Anthony Sassano, eminent angel investor, advisor and founder of The Daily Gwei commented: “Read this seriously and analyze it. The director of BlackRock (the largest asset manager in the world) says that the future is public blockchains – specifically, that Ethereum is the future! If this doesn’t make you stubborn, nothing will.
The panel discussions also included insights from other financial leaders such as Sandy Kaul, senior vice president of Franklin Templeton, and Alesia Haas, chief financial officer of Coinbase. The panel’s theme highlighted that 2024 is a key year for deeper integration of cryptocurrencies and established financial sectors (TradFi) through instruments such as ETFs and asset tokenization.
The consensus among these financial leaders underscores a significant trend: Not only is the integration of blockchain technology into mainstream financial practices increasing, but it is doing so through platforms that offer transparency, accessibility, and broad governance. Ethereum’s preference over blockchains allowed by institutions like BlackRock is a noteworthy development.
At the time of publication, the price of ETH was $3,522.
Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com
