BlackRock Partners With Anchorage Digital For Crypto Custody

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, has expanded its digital asset infrastructure by partnering with Anchorage Digital. This collaboration is aimed at enhancing BlackRock's capabilities in crypto custody and tokenized asset management. Anchorage Digital, a federally chartered crypto-native bank, will provide secure and regulated custody services for BlackRock's digital assets, including its tokenized U.S. Treasury fund, BUIDL (BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund).

BUIDL, launched in March 2024, is tokenized on the Ethereum blockchain and offers near-instant settlement and increased transparency. The fund allows investors to gain exposure to U.S. Treasury bills in a tokenized form, benefiting from blockchain-native properties such as programmability and real-time monitoring. Anchorage's support for BUIDL includes tokenized asset custody, on-chain settlement functionality, institutional-grade wallet integration, and security-focused infrastructure that complies with federal regulations.

This partnership underscores the growing trend of institutional adoption of digital currencies and tokenized assets. As more institutional asset managers enter the crypto space, the demand for secure and regulated infrastructure is increasing. BlackRock's strategy includes supporting billions of Bitcoin and Ethereum, issuing spot Bitcoin ETFs, testing tokenized money market and bond products, and building a robust network of service providers across the crypto ecosystem.

Anchorage Digital's strengths lie in its federal charter by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the use of multi-party computation (MPC) to secure private keys, direct staking out of custody, and support for on-chain participation in governance and treasury activities. These features make Anchorage particularly suitable for traditional finance institutions like BlackRock, which require operational sophistication and regulatory compliance.

With this new partnership, BlackRock is establishing a framework for exposure to digital assets that leverages the strengths of both blockchain technology and traditional finance. The asset manager's vision is to create a financial infrastructure on a blockchain basis that duplicates the existing system but with greater efficiency, programmability, and transparency. This move is part of a broader trend in the adoption of blockchain by mainstream finance, with real-world asset (RWA) tokenization emerging as a dominant theme. Governments, banks, and institutions are increasingly exploring blockchain-based asset tokenization of assets like bonds, treasuries, real estate, and private equity.

Anchorage's ability to provide secure and compliant custody services enables the tokenization trend to scale responsibly, without compromising security or regulation. This partnership is a significant step forward in BlackRock's digital asset strategy, positioning the asset manager at the forefront of the evolving financial landscape.