According to documents filed by BlackRock, a $9 trillion worldwide investment management, the company has made major investments in two leading publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies.
According to a June 30 filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, BlackRock holds 6.71% of Marathon Digital Holdings (MARA) and 6.61% of Riot Blockchain (RIOT).
The investments are worth almost $384 million in total, with BlackRock investing nearly $207 million in Marathon and $176 million in Riot.
According to Etf.com, BlackRock’s iShares Russell 2000 ETF has more Marathon and Riot shares than any other ETF, while the iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF is third.
BlackRock has made previous investments in the digital asset sector, filing an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission in January for two of its funds to purchase cash-settled Bitcoin futures contracts, before revealing in April that its BlackRock Global Allocation Fund had purchased 37 BTC futures contracts from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Bitcoin mining stocks have grown in popularity in recent years as a result of the scarcity of products that provide institutional investors with regulated access to the crypto markets in the United States.
While BTC has increased by around 288 percent in the last year, Marathon’s stock has increased by 754 percent, and Riot has increased by 848 percent.
In recent months, prominent corporations including Fidelity Group and Vanguard Group have gained significant exposure to the BTC mining sector.
According to Etf.com, Vanguard’s Total Stock Market ETF and Information Technology ETF are the fourth and fifth largest funds by RIOT holdings, respectively, while its Small-Cap ETF and Small-Cap Growth ETF are the fourth and fifth largest ETF holders of MARA shares.
