Jonathan
Raa
|
Nurphoto
|
Getty
Images
The
long-awaited
bitcoin
exchange
traded
funds
launched
in
January,
and
financial
advisors
are
on
their
way
–
though
gradually
–
toward
adopting
them,
according
to
BlackRock’s
Samara
Cohen.
For
now,
about
80%
of
bitcoin
ETF
purchases
have
likely
been
coming
from
“self-directed
investors
who
have
made
their
own
allocation,
often
through
an
online
brokerage
account,”
she
said,
speaking
at
the
Coinbase
State
of
Crypto
Summit
in
New
York
City
on
Thursday.
The
iShares
Bitcoin
Trust
(IBIT)
was
among
the
funds
to
debut
earlier
this
year.
Cohen,
BlackRock’s
chief
investment
officer
of
ETF
and
index
investments,
noted
that
hedge
funds
and
brokerages
have
also
been
buyers,
based
on
last
quarter’s
13-F
filings,
but
registered
investment
advisors
have
been
a
little
more
“wary.”
CNBC
recently
polled
its
Advisor
Council
about
why
they
and
their
colleagues
are
so
cautious
about
the
new
products,
which
represent
a
regulated
and
familiar
investment
product
for
a
new
asset
class
that
has
garnered
significant
interest
in
recent
years.
Responses
ranged
from
bitcoin’s
notorious
price
volatility
to
the
flagship
cryptocurrency
being
too
nascent
to
have
established
a
significant
track
record.
Regulatory
compliance
and
the
crypto’s
reputation
for
fraud
and
scandal
were
also
on
advisors’
minds.
“I
would
call
them
wary
…
that’s
their
job,”
Cohen
said
of
the
skeptical
financial
advisors.
“An
investment
advisor
is
a
fiduciary
to
their
clients,”
she
added.
“This
is
an
asset
class
that
has
had
90%
price
volatility
at
times
in
history,
and
their
job
is
really
to
construct
portfolios
and
do
the
risk
analysis
and
due
diligence.
They’re
doing
that
right
now.”
The
iShares
Bitcoin
Trust
(IBIT)
in
2024
“This
is
a
moment,
in
terms
of
really
putting
forward
important
data,
risk
analytics
[and
determining]
the
role
bitcoin
can
play
in
a
portfolio,
what
sort
of
allocation
is
appropriate
given
an
investor’s
risk
tolerance,
their
liquidity
needs,”
she
added.
“That’s
what
an
advisor
is
supposed
to
do,
so
I
think
this
journey
that
we’re
on
is
exactly
the
right
one
and
they’re
doing
their
jobs.”
Cohen
said
she
sees
bitcoin
ETFs
as
a
bridge
between
crypto
and
traditional
finance
–
particularly
for
investors
who
may
be
interested
in
making
an
allocation
to
bitcoin
without
having
to
manage
their
risk
across
two
different
ecosystems.
Before
the
ETFs,
the
existing
onramps
into
crypto
were
insufficient
for
what
some
investors
wanted
to
do,
she
said.
Coinbase
chief
financial
officer
Alesia
Haas
said
bitcoin
is
“on
a
slow
journey
of
adoption”
–
a
theme
echoed
across
the
conference
sessions.
Blue
Macellari,
head
of
digital
assets
strategy
for
T.
Rowe
Price,
pointed
to
the
1%
allocation
that
some
investors
deem
to
be
a
safe,
comfortable
amount.
She
said
she
sees
portfolio
allocations
into
bitcoin
as
binary
events,
where
they
should
be
greater
than
1%
or
zero,
but
she
also
acknowledged
the
cautious
approach
toward
adoption.
“There’s
a
psychological
component
where
people
need
to
test
the
waters
and
get
comfortable,”
Macellari
said.
“It’s
a
paradigm
shift
…
it
takes
time
for
people
to
ease
their
way
into
it.”
