Coinbase to Connect BlackRock's Aladdin Institutional Clients to Crypto

Coinbase, an American cryptocurrency exchange firm, has announced its partnership with BlackRock, a leading asset management firm.

Under the partnership, Coinbase will provide direct access to crypto trading capabilities to institutional users of Aladdin, which is an end-to-end investment management platform owned by BlackRock.

Brett Tejpaul, the Head of Coinbase Institutional, and Greg Tusar, the Vice President of Institutional Product, announced the collaboration on Thursday in a blog article on the exchange's website.

The crypto trading feature will be kicked off with access to Bitcoin trading for the institutional clients, Tejpaul and Tusar noted.

“Our scale, experience and integrated product offering represented what BlackRock believes to be a logical partner for Aladdin,” it explained.

Coinbase Prime

Coinbase said the capacity will be delivered through Coinbase Prime, its institutional prime brokerage platform for crypto assets.

Through Coinbase Prime, the exchange will provide access to custody, prime brokerage and reporting functionalities to Aladdin institutional users.

“Built for institutions, Coinbase Prime integrates advanced agency trading, custody, prime financing, staking and staking infrastructure, data, and reporting that supports the entire transaction lifecycle,” Tejpaul and Tusar explained.

These features will be enjoyed by institutional customers of Aladdin who are also customers of the publicly-traded exchange, Coinbase said.

The exchange noted that its institutional clients include asset allocators, financial institutions, hedge funds and corporate treasures, among others.

In his comment on the partnership, Joseph Chalom, the Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock, noted that the Coinbase Prime connectivity with Aladdin will enable the company’s clients to manage their exposure to Bitcoin directly from their Aladdin workflows.

Chalom added that the new feature will give its clients “a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.”

“Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets,” Chalom explained.

Both companies noted that they will continue to work on the integration and introduce new features over time to interested clients.

“As the trusted partner enabling institutions to participate and transact in the cryptoeconomy, we are committed to pushing the industry forward and creating new access points as institutional crypto adoption continues to rapidly accelerate,” Coinbase noted.