BlackRock Deposits $100M USDC, Gains Memecoins & NFTs

In a surprising turn, asset management giant BlackRock has emerged as a notable player in cryptocurrency and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), acquiring a substantial portfolio worth at least $40,000 in memecoins and NFTs. The revelation came to light after vigilant observers tracked transactions to one of BlackRock’s wallets associated with a new tokenization fund.

Data shows a notable deposit of $100 million in USD Coin (USDC) on the Ethereum blockchain on March 15. This deposit occurred just a day after the firm filed to introduce the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund.

Since March 19, unknown people have transferred at least 40 coins and 25 NFTs to the wallet linked to BlackRock Company. The transfers include assets such as Ordinals Pepe (PEPE) coins based on bitcoins and a CryptoDickbutts S3 NFT.

Notable tokens, like 500,000 unshETHing_Token (USH), were allocated to BlackRock, while other tokens, such as Realio Network (RIO), received 10,000. The current cost per token is $13,755 for RIO and $11,600 for the others. The RIO token, a real-world asset tokenization coin, surged 47% after its transfer to BlackRock, according to CoinGecko.

BlackRock’s Rapid Expansion into Digital Assets

There were also huge quantities of Mog Coin (Mog), VoldemortTrumpRobotnik-10Neko (ETHEREUM), and Shina Inu (SHI) received by the company led by Larry Fink.

The asset manager received Chungos and KaijuKingz as some of the most notable NFTs. According to Etherscan, on March 5, BlackRock’s address first deposited $200 USDC into its Vine wallet before making another test deposit of $10 on March 15. Subsequently, a deposit of $99,999,960 was made a few blocks later.

Since 2017, Fink’s of BlackRock about Bitcoin and blockchain technology has come a full circle from calling it “index of money laundering. BlackRock view underwent a significant transformation when it filed for a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) by June 2023.

Since then, it has achieved this and currently registers some of the biggest volumes in the ETF market. Fink and BlackRock are now looking to tokenize financial assets on Ethereum. Fink said in a recent Bloomberg interview,

“We believe the next step will be the tokenization of financial assets, which means every stock, every bond […] will be on one general ledger.”

The BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, or “BUIDL,” offers eligible investors opportunities to generate returns on US dollar investments. Investors should subscribe to the fund via Securitize Markets, LLC. This is as BlackRock embraces dynamic digital assets and blockchain technologies.

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