BlackRock, an investment management giant with over $10 trillion assets under management, partnered with Coinbase Prime to offer its institutional clients cryptocurrency services.
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Coinbase said in a blog post that its prime broker arm will first provide bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) trading and custody services to BlackRock's Aladdin clients. Joseph Chalom, Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock, said that the firm's institutional clients are "increasingly interested" in gaining exposure to cryptocurrencies. It is unclear though if and when Coinbase plans to offer cryptocurrencies besides bitcoin to BlockRock's clients.
The move comes amid reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is probing the exchange for offering trading services with tokens that should have been classified as securities. Yet, the SEC hasn't accused Coinbase of any wrongdoing at the time of writing.
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