BlackRock officially registered as a crypto company in the UK

It's official! $10 trillion asset manager BlackRock has just registered as a crypto company in the UK. The information has been confirmed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). BlackRock joins brands such as Coinbase, PayPal and Revolut, which have already obtained similar status. This allows the company to operate its new European Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETP) as an entity registered in the UK.

However, the FCA notes that not all applications are accepted: "We rejected applications that did not contain key elements necessary for our assessment or their quality was insufficient."

BlackRock's Bitcoin ETP now on exchanges in Europe

Less than a week ago, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETP fund appeared on the Euronext stock exchanges in Paris and Amsterdam. To start, the company introduced a promotion in the form of a 10 basis point fee waiver, which reduces management costs to 0.15% until the end of the year.

Manuela Sperandeo, Head of iShares Europe and the Middle East, emphasizes that this is a key moment for the crypto market: “What we are seeing can be considered a turning point in the industry – growing retail interest is now combined with the entry of more and more professional investors.”

What’s next?

At the moment, neither BlackRock nor the FCA have commented on the details of the registration. However, it is known that the company has already appeared on the official registration list of the British regulator under the reference number 178638.

Does this mean an even greater influx of institutions into the cryptocurrency market? Time will tell, but one thing is for sure – financial giants are starting to take Bitcoin very seriously.