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BlackRock iShares Exec Says Firm Has ‘No Current Plans’ to Launch Crypto ETFs: Report

BlackRock iShares executive Salim Ramji said the asset manager is holding back in launching crypto ETFs due to “opaque” regulatory framework and liquidity concerns.

Updated May 11, 2023, 5:47 p.m. Published Nov 12, 2021, 1:46 p.m.

BlackRock global head of iShares and index investments Salim Ramji, said in an interview the $9.5 trillion firm has “no current plans” to launch cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETF).

“I personally think crypto – things like stablecoins and certainly things like distributed ledger technologies – are a disruptive technology,” Ramji told the Financial News in an interview.
However, Ramji, who sits on BlackRock’s global executive committee, also said the asset manager is holding back on launching cryptocurrency ETFs due to the “opaque” regulatory framework and liquidity concerns.
In May, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said the asset manager is studying the potential of cryptocurrencies to serve as long-term investments though it’s too early to tell if they’re “just a speculative trading tool” due to their volatility.
In October, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the first bitcoin futures ETF, the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
“I also think that before we wrap or put our brand on it, we want to be certain that clients are going to be happy with us five years from now, 10 years from now,” Ramji told the publication.

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Tanzeel Akhtar

Tanzeel Akhtar has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes Africa, Financial Times, The Street, Citywire, Investing.com, Euromoney, Yahoo! Finance, Benzinga, Kitco News, African Business Magazine, Hedge Week, Campden Family Office, Modern Investor, Spear's Wealth Management Magazine, Global Investor, ETF.com, ETF Stream, CIO UK, Funds Global Asia, Portfolio Institutional, Interactive Investor, Bitcoin Magazine, CryptoNews.com, Bitcoin.com, The Local, The Next Web, Mining Journal, Money Marketing, Marketing Week and more. Tanzeel trained as a foreign correspondent at the University of Helsinki, Finland and newspaper journalist at the University of Central Lancashire, UK. She holds a BA (Honours) in English Literature from the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and completed a semester abroad as an ERASMUS student at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. She is NCTJ Qualified - Media Law, Public Administration and passed the Shorthand 100WPM with distinction. She does not currently hold value in any digital currencies or projects.