How Bitcoin Made a Believer Out of BlackRock


贝莱德首席执行官Larry Fink在2017年曾称比特币是“洗钱指数”。如今，他说自己是比特币的忠实信徒。



昔日的加密货币质疑者之一正在帮助比特币成为主流。 6park.com
One of crypto’s erstwhile doubters is helping to take bitcoin mainstream. 6park.com
    
贝莱德(BlackRock)首席执行官Larry Fink早在2017年就曾称比特币是“洗钱指数”，后来又不屑一顾地说加密货币不是他的客户想要购买的东西。如今，他说自己是比特币的忠实信徒。贝莱德管理着增长最快的比特币基金，并与数字资产行业一些大公司建立了合作关系。 6park.com
Larry Fink, the chief executive officer of BlackRock, called bitcoin “an index of money laundering” back in 2017 and later rebuffed cryptocurrencies as something his clients weren’t looking to buy. Today, he says he is a big believer in bitcoin. His firm manages the fastest-growing bitcoin fund and has forged partnerships with some of the largest players in the digital-assets industry.  6park.com
    
在贝莱德，Fink态度的180度大转弯为比特币赋予了正当性，这也表明华尔街越来越渴望利用这个长期以来被视为金融“狂野西部”的市场。通过旗下一只低手续费的热门比特币ETF，贝莱德为主流投资者打开了一扇门，让他们可以像买卖股票一样轻松地买卖比特币。 6park.com
The U-turn Fink is making at BlackRock has lent legitimacy to bitcoin and signals Wall Street’s growing desire to capitalize on a market that has long been considered the Wild West of finance. By selling bitcoin in a low-cost and popular exchange-traded fund, BlackRock opened the door for mainstream investors to buy and sell bitcoin as easily as stocks.  6park.com
    
“我们认为，我们的核心使命之一就是提供选择和渠道，”贝莱德首席运营官Rob Goldstein在接受采访时说。“这对我们的客户来说是一个重要话题。” 6park.com
“We view a core part of our mission as providing choice and access,” Rob Goldstein, BlackRock’s chief operating officer, said in an interview. “This is an important topic for our clients.”



比特币的韧性也是贝莱德这一决定的考量因素。在比特币短暂的历史上，崩盘时有发生。然而，每次暴跌后，又一个繁荣周期开始，吸引了更多的投资者。如今，比特币价格正回到纪录高位，上探70,000美元，而就在16个月前这似乎是不可能的，当时加密货币交易所FTX以惊人的方式倒闭。当时，比特币价格徘徊在16,000美元附近。 6park.com
Bitcoin’s resilience played a hand in that decision, too. The token’s short history has been dotted with crashes. Yet after each bust, another boom cycle began that attracted more investors. Today, Bitcoin prices are back at record levels and flirting with $70,000, a run that seemed improbable 16 months ago, when the crypto exchange FTX collapsed in spectacular fashion. Bitcoin prices were hovering near $16,000 at that time. 6park.com
   
业内批评人士表示，贝莱德拥抱加密货币的做法让他们感到惊讶，该公司让客户投资如此不稳定的资产，从而面临声誉风险。 6park.com
Industry critics said they are surprised by BlackRock’s embrace of crypto in light of the reputational risk the company faces in offering its clients exposure to such a volatile asset. 6park.com
    
美国证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission, 简称SEC)互联网执法办公室前主任约John Reed Stark说，很显然，贝莱德等公司之所以参与其中就是为了赚取手续费。 6park.com
John Reed Stark, former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Internet Enforcement, said it is obvious that companies such as BlackRock are in the game for the fees. 6park.com
   
他说：“比特币被认为应是去中心化的，这一点是明明白白和显而易见的，但具有讽刺意味的是，还有什么比华尔街巨头以各种可能的理由收取费用并兜售无人能理解的东西更去中心化呢？” 6park.com
“The irony is transparent and glaring in that it’s supposed to be decentralized, yet what is more decentralized than a Wall Street behemoth who is taking fees from every single possible angle and peddling something that nobody understands,” he said.



贝莱德目前从旗下比特币ETF资产中赚取的平均费率约为0.19%。这只基金已经触及费用优惠门槛，按照该基金的规定，在推出第一年或资产达到50亿美元之前，投资者只支付0.12%的费用。第一年过后，费用将上升到0.25%。 6park.com
BlackRock currently earns an average fee of about 0.19% on assets in its bitcoin ETF. The fund has already hit its fee waiver threshold, which specifies that investors pay 0.12% for the first $5 billion in assets or the first year of the fund’s launch. After the first year, the fee will rise to 0.25%. 6park.com
   
贝莱德坚称，该公司是在研究加密货币行业多年后才提出的数字资产战略，并向客户提供了他们想要的产品。据知情人士透露，比特币在2022年加密货币崩溃后的反弹给了贝莱德坚持这一策略的信念。 6park.com
BlackRock maintains that it studied the crypto industry for years to come up with a digital-assets strategy and is giving its customers what they want. And bitcoin’s rebound following the 2022 crypto meltdown gave BlackRock conviction to stick to that strategy, according to people familiar with the matter. 



贝莱德在比特币最近一轮反弹中功不可没。今年1月份推出的9只比特币ETF中，贝莱德的iShares Bitcoin Trust在吸引资金净流入方面遥遥领先。事实上，贝莱德的比特币ETF是有史以来以最快速度吸引到超过100亿美元资产的基金。 6park.com
BlackRock deserves some of the credit for the latest leg of the rally in bitcoin. Of the nine ETFs holding bitcoin that launched in January, its iShares Bitcoin Trust is leading the pack in net inflows. In fact, the ETF is the fastest ever to draw more than $10 billion in assets.  6park.com
   
许多主流投资者在去年6月开始加码比特币，因为贝莱德当时加入了推出首只比特币ETF的竞争，而贝莱德在ETF申请方面的记录近乎完美。在竞相申请推出比特币ETF的那段时期里，法院的一项裁决迫使SEC重新考虑其中一家竞争者提出的申请，起到了推波助澜的作用。 6park.com
Many mainstream investors began loading up on bitcoin in June when BlackRock entered the race to launch the first fund because of the asset manager’s near-perfect record with ETF applications. A court ruling that forced the SEC to reconsider a competitor’s application added fuel to the fire. 6park.com
   
倡导监督金融行业的组织Better Markets的总裁兼首席执行官Dennis Kelleher表示，贝莱德迅速崛起成为比特币市场的领导者并不令人意外。 6park.com
Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, a group that advocates for oversight of the financial sector, said it is no surprise that BlackRock is quickly becoming a market leader in bitcoin. 6park.com
    
Kelleher说，“贝莱德拥有无与伦比的市场渗透力、难以匹敌的分销网络和强大的营销能力。”他表示，“所有这些属性给主流投资者带来了虚假的安慰感。” 6park.com
“BlackRock has an unmatched market penetration with a peerless distribution network and a marketing powerhouse,” he said. “All of these attributes provide Main Street investors with false comfort.” 6park.com
    
贝莱德对加密货币的看法与其最大的竞争对手Vanguard截然不同。由传奇投资者Jack Bogle创立的Vanguard已表示，该公司没有创建现货比特币ETF的计划，并且也将不会在其经纪平台上提供与加密货币相关的产品。管理着8.7万亿美元资产的Vanguard在最近的一篇博文中称，比特币“更像是一种投机而非投资”。 6park.com
BlackRock is taking a view on crypto that is drastically different from that of Vanguard, its biggest rival. Founded by the legendary investor Jack Bogle, Vanguard has said it has no plans to create a spot bitcoin ETF and won’t offer crypto-related products on its brokerage platform. The asset manager, which oversees $8.7 trillion in assets, called bitcoin “more of a speculation than an investment” in a recent blog post. 


贝莱德坚称，该公司是在研究加密货币行业多年后才提出的数字资产战略。

除了比特币ETF之外，贝莱德还与加密货币领域的一些大公司建立了合作关系。贝莱德持有稳定币公司Circle Internet Financial的少数股份，并管理着在一个政府货币市场基金中支持Circle稳定币USD Coin的逾250亿美元储备资金。 6park.com
Beyond the bitcoin ETF, BlackRock has developed partnerships with some of crypto’s biggest players. It holds a minority stake in the stablecoin company Circle Internet Financial and manages more than $25 billion in reserves backing Circle’s USD Coin in a government money-market fund. 6park.com
    
贝莱德还与加密货币交易所Coinbase Global合作，通过与Coinbase的机构部门整合，贝莱德Aladdin软件平台的用户获得了直接接触加密货币的机会，贝莱德还为专业客户管理一个私募比特币信托基金。据熟悉内情的人士透露，该信托基金（其资产规模先前已增至逾2.5亿美元）的大部分客户此后已经将资金转移到了新的ETF中。 6park.com
BlackRock also teamed up with the crypto exchange Coinbase Global to provide users of the asset manager’s Aladdin software platform with direct access to crypto through an integration with Coinbase’s institutional arm, and BlackRock manages a private bitcoin trust for professional clients. The majority of the clients in the trust, which had grown to more than $250 million in assets, have since moved their money to the new ETF, according to people familiar with the matter. 6park.com
   
贝莱德对比特币的接受是循序渐进的。在疫情期间，该公司全球固定收益首席投资官Rick Rieder开始在他的基金中涉足比特币期货。据知情人士透露，贝莱德数字资产主管Robbie Mitchnick也促动了Fink转而相信比特币。 6park.com
BlackRock’s embrace of bitcoin was gradual. During the pandemic, Rick Rieder, the firm’s chief investment officer of global fixed income, started dabbling in bitcoin futures in his funds. Robbie Mitchnick, BlackRock’s head of digital assets, also helped convert Fink into a bitcoin believer, according to people familiar with the matter.  6park.com
    
2022年，Fink对数字资产的立场开始发生明显变化。 6park.com
2022 was the year that Fink’s stance on digital assets began to change visibly.  6park.com
    
在当年4月的一次电话会议上，他说他的公司正在广泛研究加密货币领域，并看到客户的兴趣在增加。同月，贝莱德参投了Circle规模4亿美元的融资轮，到了夏天，贝莱德悄然推出了上述私募信托基金，这是贝莱德首次面向美国机构客户推出的现货比特币产品。该公司用自有资金作为该基金的种子资金，并与外部投资者一起扩大了基金规模。 6park.com
On an April conference call that year, he said his firm was studying the crypto sector broadly and seeing increased interest from clients. That same month, BlackRock invested in Circle’s $400 million funding round, and by the summer BlackRock had quietly launched the private trust—its first-ever spot bitcoin product for U.S. institutional clients. The company seeded the fund with its own money and expanded it with outside investors.  6park.com
    
同年，贝莱德还公布了与Coinbase的合作关系，在Coinbase拥有比特币的机构客户可使用贝莱德的软件工具套件Aladdin来管理投资组合和进行风险分析。贝莱德现在使用Coinbase作为其现货比特币ETF的托管机构。 6park.com
That year, BlackRock also unveiled a partnership with Coinbase to allow institutional clients who own bitcoin on the crypto exchange to use Aladdin, its suite of software tools, to manage their portfolios and conduct risk analysis. BlackRock now uses Coinbase as a custodian for its spot bitcoin ETF.  6park.com
   
如今，贝莱德在加密货币方面的野心不仅仅限于比特币。该资产管理公司正在向SEC申请推出持有以太币的ETF，以太币是仅次于比特币的第二大加密货币，也是以太坊区块链上的内部代币。SEC接到了几项此类申请，将在5月的最后期限前做出决定。 6park.com
BlackRock’s crypto ambitions today extend beyond bitcoin. The asset manager has a pending application with the SEC to launch an ETF holding ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency after bitcoin and the in-house token on the Ethereum blockchain. The regulator has a May deadline to act on several such applications.