by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • In less than two years, BlackRock’s ETFs have earned a quarter-billion dollars, with $218 million from Bitcoin products and $42 million from Ethereum products.
  • According to Waidmann, “this isn’t experimentation anymore.
  • The world’s largest asset manager has proven that crypto is a serious profit center.”
  • For comparison, many fintech startups spend a decade trying to reach that kind of revenue.

What Happened

Data from Farside Investors shows that BlackRock’s ETH-linked fund alone saw $512 million in net capital inflows last week.

“We’re attracting a new and increasingly global generation of investors through things like our digital assets offerings,” he said.

In 2024, the company launched its tokenized money-market fund BUIDL, which has grown to more than $2 billion in assets and has gained traction across crypto platforms.

Recently, Ripple partnered with Securitize, a real-world asset firm, to launch a smart contract allowing holders of BlackRock’s BUIDL and VanEck’s VBILL tokenized treasury funds to exchange their shares for Ripple USD (RLUSD).

Market Context

BlackRock is known for making large Bitcoin and ETH purchases, especially during market downturns.

Why It Matters

BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ether ETFs are now bringing in more than $260 million annually, according to figures shared by Leon Waidmann, head of research at the Onchain Foundation (formerly the Lisk Foundation).

In less than two years, BlackRock’s ETFs have earned a quarter-billion dollars, with $218 million from Bitcoin products and $42 million from Ethereum products.

Details

According to Waidmann, “this isn’t experimentation anymore. The world’s largest asset manager has proven that crypto is a serious profit center.”

For comparison, many fintech startups spend a decade trying to reach that kind of revenue.

The success shows that crypto ETFs are no longer just a test run but a major source of income for the world’s largest asset manager.

Waidmann added that every pension fund, sovereign wealth fund, and insurance company will now use BlackRock as a benchmark.

If the asset manager can extract $260 million annually from Bitcoin and Ethereum, Wall Street institutions around the globe are now forced to take crypto seriously, not as “future tech,” but as a business opportunity they’re already late to.

BlackRock’s Bitcoin and Ether ETFs Inspire Wall Street Crypto Custody

According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, BlackRock is now the largest institutional custodian of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The firm holds over 756,000 BTC, valued at $85.29 billion, and 3.802 million Ether (ETH), valued at $15.89 billion.

With other crypto assets, such as the SPX and MOG tokens, in its portfolio, the asset manager has custody of over $101 billion worth of crypto assets.

According to BlackRock’s latest report, the firm recorded $14.1 billion in digital asset net inflows for the second quarter of 2025.

Although digital assets still represent just 1% of BlackRock’s $12.5 trillion in total assets under management (AUM), the crypto category is emerging as one of its fastest-growing product lines.

Crypto ETFs generated $40 million in base fees and securities lending revenue in Q2 2025.

CEO Larry Fink attributed some of the firm’s momentum to digital assets.

BlackRock Bringing Wall Street On-Chain

BlackRock has also been working on bringing Wall Street on-chain. According to a Bloomberg report, the New York-based firm is working on tokenizing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to real-world assets such as stocks, subject to regulatory considerations.

The move follows BlackRock’s earlier ventures into digital assets.

Aside from crypto ETFs, BlackRock has also been championing real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.