BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) — one of the largest investment companies in the world — has been showing interest in Bitcoin (BTC) for a while. The company is trying to get a Bitcoin spot ETF approved with the SEC in the United States, as well as being a major shareholder in 4 of the 5 largest Bitcoin miners.
In this context, Finbold wants to understand how deeply BlackRock is positioning itself inside this vast ecosystem, how exposed both BLK and BTC are to each other, and what kind of influence the BlackRock Fund Advisors could have in Bitcoin moving forward.
Interestingly, BlackRock is also a major shareholder of the five largest companies by market cap in the category ‘Bitcoin’, by CompaniesMarketCap. The index classifies these companies as “companies that hold, mine, or accept Bitcoin”, but the top five in this rank are split between just holding, or services directly building the ecosystem, but not miners.
According to data retrieved by Finbold from CNN Money on August 29, BlackRock Fund Advisors’ shares on the mentioned companies are as follows:
- Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA): 116,404,341 shares (3.67%), for a total value of $31.13 billion;
- PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL): 48,059,377 shares (4.31%), for a total value of $3.64 billion;
- Block Inc. (NYSE:SQ): 20,240,610 shares (3.72%), for a total value of $1.63 billion;
- Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN): 6,185,874 shares (3.31%), for a total value of $609.99 million;
- Microstrategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR): 730,063 shares (6.64%), for a total value of $319.68 million.
Tesla and Microstrategy, are both just Bitcoin ‘HODLers’. Holding 10,725 BTC ($278.85 million) and 152,800 BTC ($3.97 billion) each, respectively.
PayPal and Coinbase are Bitcoin service providers, mostly focused on trading and custody. Block (formerly Square Inc.) is an American multinational technology conglomerate founded in 2009 by Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey, building, among other products, Bitcoin-related solutions.
Notably, Coinbase and Block also reportedly hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets. Holding 9,000 BTC ($234 million) and 8,027 BTC ($108.7 million) each, respectively. According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), PayPal reported that it is “safeguarding” $499 million in BTC as of March 31, 2023.
