BlackRock, Coinbase, to Provide Aladdin Clients with Bitcoin Access

Investment management firm BlackRock is to partner with Coinbase to provide mutual clients on its Aladdin platform with access to crypto trading and custody through Coinbase Prime. The partnership will start with Bitcoin, Coinbase Prime will also provide prime brokerage, and reporting capabilities.

“Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets,” says Joseph Chalom, global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships at BlackRock. “This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their Bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.”

Although the link up is being hailed in cryptoasset quarters as a major step forward for the industry, given the service is available only to users of Aladdin who are already clients of Coinbase, the assumption is that users will already be exposed to cryptoassets. Nonetheless, in a blog post, Coinbase says, “The Coinbase partnership between BlackRock and Aladdin is an exciting milestone for our firm. As the trusted partner enabling institutions to participate and transact in the cryptoeconomy, we are committed to pushing the industry forward and creating new access points as institutional crypto adoption continues to rapidly accelerate. We are honoured to partner with an industry leader and look forward to furthering Coinbase’s goal of providing greater access and transparency to crypto.”