BlackRock Has Begun Trading Bitcoin Futures

Investments giant BlackRock has indeed "started to dabble" in the bitcoin market, according to regulatory filings published Wednesday.

A source familiar with the matter told CoinDesk the asset manager held $6.5 million in CME bitcoin futures contracts earlier this year. Those contracts had appreciated $360,457 on reporting day, according to documents reviewed by CoinDesk.

The holdings represented 0.03% of BlackRock’s massive Global Allocation Fund on reporting day Jan. 31 – “very small,” the source said. (The gains represent just 0.0014%.) BlackRock’s original 37 contracts expired on March 26.

BlackRock gave two of its funds the go-ahead to trade bitcoin futures in January.

BlackRock declined to comment beyond the filings.

UPDATE (March 31, 20:37 UTC): Adds fresh information about the total amount of bitcoin futures held by BlackRock.

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