Rick Rieder, chief investment officer at BlackRock Financial Management, hinted that the firm has already invested a percentage of its portfolio into crypto. In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Wednesday, Rieder said BlackRock — with more than $8.6 trillion in assets under management — has "started to dabble a bit" into crypto investments. The chief investment officer described the volatility of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) as "extraordinary" but acknowledged that many investors were looking for "places that appreciate under the assumption that inflation moves higher as debts are building." "Holding some portion of what you hold in cash …

In another throwback to the 2017 bull market, a major United States bank fund manager survey, or FMS, has put Bitcoin at the pinnacle of positive investor sentiment. According to Reuters, 36% of respondents identified a long Bitcoin bet as the most crowded trade ahead of long tech in a Jan. 2021 survey from Bank of America. January’s report marks the first time that ‘long tech’ has not been number one in BofA’s fund manager survey since Oct. 2019. The result also marks a steady increase in positive investor sentiment for BTC seeing as Bitcoin was third on the list …

Arca, an emerging digital-asset manager, has secured $10 million in Series A funding to bootstrap the next phase of its business strategy — one that could bridge the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrencies. In a Wednesday press release, Arca said the funding round was led by venture capital firm RRE Ventures, with key contributions from Alex Tisch, president of Loews Hotels & Co, and a “coalition of financiers led by Littlebanc Advisors.” Arca sai it will use the funding to enhance its infrastructure and digital service offerings, as well as stay abreast of all the legal and regulatory requirements …

A new survey of global fund managers reveals that Bitcoin has climbed in the rankings of “most crowded trade” beating out traditional investments like gold and bonds. Bitcoin was third on the overall list of options for the category, named as the busiest trade by 15% of survey respondents. Only tech stocks (52%) and short dollar positions (18%) ranked higher. BofA Fund Manager Survey of the most crowded trades ht @jsblokland pic.twitter.com/KvlP8bTe7x — (@chigrl) December 15, 2020 The Global Fund Manager Survey was conducted by Bank of America Merrill Lynch between the period of Dec. 4 to 10 and asked …

The “2020 Crypto Hedge Fund Report,” published on May 11 by PwC and Elwood Asset Management Services Ltd., said that cryptocurrency hedge funds’ assets under management doubled in 2019. According to the survey, total assets under management in crypto funds grew from $1 billion in 2018 to more than $2 billion by the end of 2019. The average per fund also doubled, jumping from $21.9 million to $44 million. Correlation with Bitcoin market The study found that crypto fund launches are highly correlated with the price of Bitcoin. When bitcoin price spiked in 2018, more funds were launched. While the …

Iconiq Funds, the asset management arm of Germany-based Iconiq Holding — the team behind the ICO and token sale accelerator program Iconiq Lab — is launching a series of digital asset index funds beginning in Q4 2018, the company announced on Aug. 17, 2018. Investment into crypto assets will become available through traditional and regulated financial vehicles, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs). The first digital asset index fund is planned to be launched under Maltese jurisdiction as a Professional Investor Fund (PIF). It is currently under review by Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA). The company claims …