Asset manager BlackRock (BLK) is growing its digital asset team as it pushes further into cryptocurrency investment vehicles.
BlackRock, which has more than $10 trillion U.S. of assets under management, has added four new senior positions to its global digital asset team.
The new roles include a Director of Digital Assets, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Vice President for Digital Asset, and ETF Legal Counsel and Associate for Digital Assets.
Three of the new roles are based in New York City on Wall Street and another is in Atlanta, Georgia where BlackRock has a sizable presence.
The new roles come as BlackRock pushes further into crypto, recently launching its first Bitcoin investment product in Europe.
In the U.S., BlackRock has issued two spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHE).
The iShares Bitcoin Trust is the largest of about a dozen spot Bitcoin ETFs in America with more than $30 billion U.S. of capital allocated to it.
Asset managers are now applying to launch other crypto ETFs focused on digital assets such as Solana (SOL) and XRP (XRP).
BlackRock is also focused on tokenization, a sector in which it has become the leader.
The company’s tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has drawn in $1.70 billion U.S. since it launched in 2023, making it the largest tokenized fund on the market.
Tokenization is the process of converting something of value into a digital token that's usable on a blockchain application or network.
BlackRock’s stock is down 5% this year and currently trading at $968.24 U.S. per share.
