After A Lackluster Debut Of Its First Crypto ETF, BlackRock Plans Another One

Months after introducing a cryptocurrency exchange-traded fund that has so far failed to attract investors, BlackRock Inc BLK, one of the largest exchange-traded fund issuers in the world has filed for a new metaverse product.

According to a filing on Thursday, BlackRock plans to use the iShares Future Metaverse Tech and Communications ETF to track businesses with exposure to the metaverse, Bloomberg reported.

Fees, Ticker Not Yet Disclosed

The fund, of which the fees and ticker have not yet been disclosed, may comprise businesses with goods or services related to virtual platforms, social media, gaming, digital assets and augmented reality.

Making waves in the cryptocurrency sector, BlackRock, which manages $9 trillion of customer funds, recently teamed with crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN to make it simpler for institutional investors to handle and trade Bitcoin BTC/USD.

With the April debut of its blockchain and technology fund, which has received inflows totaling around $6 million, the parent company is forging ahead in the world of digital assets.

Dampening Interest in the Crypto Market

As the values of nearly all crypto tokens have collapsed this year, interest in the digital asset ecosystem has drastically decreased.

Bitcoin has fallen by nearly 60% in the current year from its all-time highs and Ethereum ETH/USD has suffered significant losses as well.

“You can tell from other metaverse, blockchain funds that interest has waned,” Todd Sohn, ETF strategist at Strategas Securities told Bloomberg.

“I get the long-term idea, but now there’s a ton of competition in the space too.”

The metaverse ETF from BlackRock is not the first.

A few funds, such as the Roundhill Ball Metaverse ETF METV, as well as ones from Subversive and Fidelity, are already trading.

BlackRock CEO Saw "Very Little" Demand for Digital Assets Last Year

Just last year, CEO Larry Fink said there was very little demand for digital assets and that those interested in crypto or other volatile assets such as meme stocks were not BlackRock's clientele.

Fink said that most of the clients who work with BlackRock are thinking on a longer time horizon, and crypto has yet to fit into that thinking.

Photo: rafapress via Shutterstock