BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) on Wednesday reported that its digital asset products fell 39% to $48.8 billion over the past year despite, pulling in $15.1 billion in net inflows as falling crypto prices wiped out far more than investors put in.
BlackRock attracted $15.1 billion in fresh crypto capital over 12 months, but $45.8 billion in market depreciation overwhelmed every dollar of those inflows, shrinking the business from $79.6 billion to $48.8 billion.
The second quarter made things worse.
Digital asset products recorded $3.1 billion in net outflows as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell 14% and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) dropped 25% over the period.
Crypto was the one weak spot in an otherwise record quarter.
BlackRock posted $15.3 trillion in total assets under management after attracting $192 billion in net inflows, beating Wall Street expectations with adjusted earnings per share of $13.91 on $7.08 billion in revenue.
Crypto currently generates $40 million in base fees and securities lending, less than 1% of total fee revenue.
BlackRock is targeting $500 million in annual crypto revenue by 2030, a more than tenfold increase from today.
BlackRock is doubling down rather than pulling back. The firm manages $60 billion of Circle’s (NYSE:CRCL) stablecoin reserves, roughly one quarter of the $300 billion stablecoin market, and wants to become the industry’s dominant reserve manager.
Chief Financial Officer Martin Small pointed to 5 billion crypto wallets as a new distribution channel for traditional investment products.
“We want to build a digital wallet native asset manager,” Small said on the earnings call.
BlackRock also recently launched the iShares Bitcoin Income ETF (NASDAQ:BITY), which writes covered call options on Bitcoin exposure to generate income rather than simply tracking price, expanding beyond its existing IBIT and ETHA lineup.
BLK trades at $1,094.68, sitting 7.9% above its 20-day SMA at $1,012.78 and 3.1% above its 200-day SMA at $1,059.81.
MACD sits above its signal line with a positive histogram, pointing to improving momentum after the earnings pop.
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