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  • 💸 BlackRock turned crypto into a $260M machine

💸 BlackRock turned crypto into a $260M machine

PLUS: $260M in ETF revenue, CFTC pilots tokenized collateral, crypto treasuries under pressure, and fresh signs of U.S. slowdown.

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Cryptopolitan News
September 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

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BlackRock didn’t just stick its toe in crypto. It built a money machine. In less than two years, the world’s largest asset manager has made Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs into a $260 million revenue stream. That is more than many fintech unicorns cobble together in a decade.

The vast majority of that revenue comes from its flagship Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, which has swollen to nearly $90B in assets and commands roughly 60% of the U.S. market. Ethereum ETFs throw another $42M on the pile. Stay with me here, but in short: BlackRock is the new TradFi benchmark for how to go about moving into crypto.

And that’s just the first act. View ETFs as BlackRock’s “Amazon book moment”, the onboarding offering before broadening its scope to custody, staking, and even digital asset derivatives. And if distribution channels get nailed down, the upside appears huge.

The knock-on effect could be huge.

  • It is proof-of-concept for pension funds, insurers and sovereign wealth funds.

  • If BlackRock can pocket $260M on BTC and ETH, others will not remain on the sidelines.

  • A few even say flows from E.T.F.s and treasuries could help propel Bitcoin toward $200K by year’s end.

The only catch? Fee wars. 

Rivals will engage in a race-to-the-bottom, competing to win flows at low cost, but it is difficult to compete with BlackRock’s distribution muscle. As one analyst put it:

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The world’s largest asset manager has demonstrated that crypto can be a big business.

🏛️ Regulation Watch

The CFTC is already sprinting toward the modernization of U.S. markets. And Acting Chair Caroline Pham announced a new project to consider the use of tokenized collateral for stablecoins and beyond like in futures and swaps.

Collateral is the cushion of derivatives trading. A risk transfer protocol that uses tokenized assets instead of cash to settle trades could make transferring risks faster, cheaper and more transparent. Jack McDonald of Ripple referred to it as part of the “rapid advance” of tokenization of real-world assets.

Key points:

  • Industry buy-in: Circle, Coinbase, Crypto.com and Ripple already back pilot projects.

  • Regulatory momentum: This follows the CFTC’s “crypto sprint” and approval of GENIUS Act.

  • Deadlines on the horizon: Written comments are due Oct. 20, and there may be a sandbox program to cover tokenized assets after that.

The CFTC also named heavyweights to its Digital Asset Markets Subcommittee: from Uniswap and Aptos Labs, to BNY Mellon and Chainlink Labs. Scott Lucas of JPMorgan and Sandy Kaul of Franklin Templeton will serve as co-chairs.

 đŸ‘€ Are you watching this? Crypto Treasury playbook might crack

Dozens of companies pivoted this year to copy Michael Saylor’s playbook: raise cash, buy crypto, pump the stock. Now, only a few months later, many of those same companies are borrowing money to buy back their own shares when prices were tumbling.

  • ETHZilla: valued at $416M has more than $460M in ETH. Shares down 76 percent from August highs. Just borrowed $80M against its ETH stash to fund a $250M buyback.

  • Golf cart manufacturers, gaming companies and even biotech start-ups, all did the “BTC on balance sheet” jig. Now most are underwater.

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It’s likely the death rattle for some of these companies

Adam Morgan McCarthy, Kaiko.

📦 Quick Explainer: What’s a Crypto Treasury Strategy?

It’s the time when a company purchases and holds crypto, keeping it on its balance sheet as though tokens were a reserve asset. The theory being that if crypto prices go up, so should the price of the company’s stock. But when prices fall or executives turn to buybacks instead of tokens, the model starts to break.

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📉 Economic Bite

The S&P Global composite slid to 53.6, its lowest in three months. Demand is beginning to soften, margins are being squeezed and tariffs are increasing the cost of goods.

Key takeaways:

  • Factories: Slowest sales growth since May → largest inventory build up since 2007.

  • Services: The cost of goods going up, but firms unable to raise prices → clues that inflation could moderate.

  • Jobs: Index of employment dropped to a five-month low.

The OECD weighed in as well: tariffs could feel a lot worse in the months to come. Their forecast? United States growth slowing to 1.5% in 2026 (from 2.8% in 2024), and a deceleration of global expansion to 2.9%.

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