US-based asset manager BlackRock has filed prospectus documents with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to add Bitcoin futures as eligible investments for two funds.
The move reveals the investment giant’s intention to enter the Bitcoin market, which will give its clients exposure to cryptocurrency for the first time.
According to news reports, the new filings for BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities and BlackRock Global Allocation Fund stated that ‘certain funds may engage in futures contracts based on bitcoin’.
The filings further added that the bitcoin futures in which the two funds may invest are ‘cash-settled bitcoin futures traded on commodity exchanges registered with the CFTC’.
A BlackRock spokesperson declined to elaborate on the move, when approached by Bloomberg.
This comes after BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said in a 2018 interview that the company’s clients were not inclined to buy cryptocurrency.
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By GlobalDataHowever, the regulatory filings do not guarantee that the asset manager will add Bitcoin futures to the two funds.
BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world with around $8.7trn of assets under management.
Recently, the company announced its Q4 2020 results.
BlackRock reported a net income of $1.55bn in the three month period ending 31 December 2020. The figure jumped 19% from $1.3bn reported in the same quarter of 2019.
The revenue also increased 13% to $4.48bn from $3.98bn during the period.