BlackRock Expands Digital Asset Team, Adds Four High-Level Roles

What to know:

BlackRock is looking to add more people to its digital asset team as the industry grows in popularity among Wall Street firms.

Since the inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, big names in finance have taken several steps to expand their presence in crypto. While BlackRock has long been a pioneer in the space, especially among traditional financial banks, the asset manager seems to have more in store.

Four roles on BlackRock’s digital asset team were  added to its website  on Wednesday, including Director of Digital Assets, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Vice President for Digital Asset and ETF Legal Counsel and Associate for Digital Asset.

According to the job description, three of the roles are based in New York and another one in Atlanta. The descriptions have otherwise been kept fairly broad and don’t give away any clues regarding what BlackRock might be looking to work on in the future.

For the role of the legal counsel, the company is seeking somebody who can help with future crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) launches. BlackRock has so far issued two spot ETF products, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHE).

Other issuers have applied to launch funds for several other crypto assets, including Solana (SOL), XRP, and Litecoin (LTC). BlackRock has not announced any plans to do the same.

The asset manager is also strongly focused on tokenization, a sector in which it has quickly become a leading force.

The firm’s tokenized money market fund, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), has drawn in $1.7 billion  since its introduction in 2023, making it by far the largest tokenized fund on the market currently.