Head of Digital Assets at BlackRock, Robert Mitchnick He said the $14 trillion asset manager won’t be too creative with the types of cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds it offers, even as it launched an ETF on Thursday.
Speaking on CNBC’s Crypto World segment on Friday, Mitchnick acknowledged that some of the cryptocurrency ETF structures other asset managers are experimenting with may attract some investors, but said BlackRock will continue to take a more measured approach:
“Are we going to see more alien structures coming into space? I don’t think so,” Mitchnick said. “Some of them will be interesting. Some of them will resonate with investors.”
However, “we will take a distinct approach in thinking about other areas where we can expand on this.”

Despite significant investor interest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), BlackRock is also seeing “pockets of interest in some other assets as well,” Mitchnick said.
“We continue to evaluate those as conditions evolve and as maturity, liquidity, size and usage situations evolve, but we take a very differentiated approach to what we will put in the iShares ETF.”
BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Thursday, which saw trading volume of more than $15.5 million and inflows of $43.5 million on its debut, according to Farside Investors data.
ETHB enables investors to gain return through Ethereum staking rewards as well as potential appreciation in the price of Ether.
ETHB is BlackRock’s second ether product, following the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), which has amassed nearly $12 billion in inflows since its launch in July 2024.
BlackRock has a Bitcoin-based income ETF
BlackRock is also looking to introduce a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which will sell covered call options on Bitcoin futures, collecting premiums to generate a return.
However, regular distributions to investors would take away from the potential upside from investing in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETH (IBIT), which mirrors the spot price of bitcoin.
Related to: Bitcoin ETFs Add $251 Million as Goldman Sachs Outperforms XRP ETF Holders
Speaking about IBIT, Mitnick noted that investors in BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin product were “disproportionately long-term buy-and-hold” investors – even when there was strong selling pressure elsewhere in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“They tended to buy the dip opportunistically,” Mitchnik said of investors in IBIT, which has accounted for more than $63 billion in inflows since its launch in January 2024.
magazine: The “Narrative Void” of Bitcoin, Ethereum is Now Inescapable: Trade Secrets


