Charlie Lee:  BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is stepping into the cryptocurrency arena preparing to offer cryptocurrency trading services to its investor clients. Embrace the Future with Litecoin.

It just looks like Litecoin might be one of the crypto-collateral, which BlackRock would lend for.  So, asset managers accepting cryptocurrency as a collateral is sign of authenticating cryptocurrencies as a store of value.

So, what is the Blackrock business about?  BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment management corporation based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world’s largest asset manager, with US$10 trillion in assets under management as of January 2022.

BlackRock, the largest asset manager entering the cryptocurrency space makes a lot of difference.  BlackRock has been called the fourth branch of the government.

BlackRock have decided to offer cryptocurrency trading through its Aladdin platform. They are going to lend money by making use of cryptocurrency assets as a collateral. More importantly, BlackRock is set to be the primary manager of Circle’s USDC cash reserves.

Jeremey Allaire recently stated: “Crypto Does Not Need Wall Street.  Wall Street Needs Crypto.”

The Circle – BlackRock partnership is all set to examine how USDC can be applied to the traditional capital markets.

BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink in his 2022 letter to shareholders pointed to the global economic implications of the Russia-Ukraine war.  He also spoke about the company’s commitment to help clients “navigate energy transition” as this is set to be one of the consequences of the war and economic sanctions.

He also noted that BlackRock’s clients have shown “increasing interest” in digital currencies, stablecoins, and related technologies.

Fink concluded stating “a global digital payment system, thoughtfully designed, can enhance the settlement of international transactions while reducing the risk of money laundering and corruption. Digital currencies can also help bring down costs of cross-border payments, for example when expatriate workers send earnings back to their families.”

With Fink talking about digital currencies bringing down costs of cross-border payments, and BlackRock set to be the primary manager of Circle’s USDC cash reserves – perhaps Stellar Network (XLM) might also see some substantial growth.

Worth recollecting, The Stellar project received initial funding from the payments start up Stripe, along with donations from organizations like BlackRock, Google, and FastForward. The organization covers its operational costs by accepting tax-deductible public donations.

BlackRock entering the funding market accepting crypto-collateral is indeed phenomenal.