BlackRock Financial Management has expanded the amount of its Bitcoin futures contracts since Q1 2021, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
As of July 31, the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund had 54 Bitcoin futures contracts issued by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, according to a Sept. 28 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The contracts were valued $10.8 million when they expired on Aug. 27 and had appreciated by $369,137.
Bitcoin futures gains account for about 0.00138 percent of the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund, or 8.91 BTC at the time of publication. The company’s total assets under control are $9.5 trillion.
The investment follows BlackRock CIO Rick Rieder’s announcement earlier this year that the business has “begun to dabble a little” in cryptocurrency. In July, however, CEO Larry Fink stated that “very little in terms of investor demand” for cryptocurrencies was being seen at the company.
BlackRock had indirect exposure to Bitcoin futures through its ownership position in business analytics firm MicroStrategy prior to exploring Bitcoin futures. In two prospectus filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January, the investment firm cited Bitcoin, implying that it would be interested in deploying crypto derivatives.
The SEC filing by BlackRock comes as the price of Bitcoin has fallen more than 4% in the previous 24 hours following a month of significant volatility. According to statistics from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the crypto asset is currently trading at $41,323.
