BlackRock Adds Five New Firms To ETF, Including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup

BlackRock updated its list of Authorized Participants for its Bitcoin ETF instrument, IBIT.

New participants include ABN AMRO Clearing USA LLC, Citadel Securities LLC, Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, and UBS Securities LLC.

Authorized Participants are a central component to ETFs, allowing for new shares to be created and offered to investors. Currently, Authorized Participants for IBIT include Jane Street Capital, JP Morgan, Macquarie Capital, and Virtu Americas.

The launch of BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF along with the eight other funds, has been fuelling a significant price rally in Bitcoin–and consequently the rest of the crypto market. Adding five giants in the financial industry signals that the recent inflow of capital from Wall Street to crypto will continue.

IBIT is the most popular of the nine Bitcoin ETFs that launched on Jan. 11. It currently holds 257,221 BTC–or roughly $17.2 billion–on behalf of its clients, which represents 30% of the overall market share for these assets. It is followed by Fidelity, which has 17% of the market, holding $9.8 billion in BTC for its customers, according to a Dune dashboard.

UBS is the largest of the new participants, with $3.1 trillion in assets under management (AUM).

Goldman Sachs reported $2.8 trillion in AUM in Q4 of 2023. Citigroup totals $2.4 billion in AUM, meanwhile, dutch firm ABN AMRO showcases $417 billion in total assets. Citadel, touted as the most successful hedge fund in history, holds $92 billion in AUM.