The BlackRock Bitcoin ETF is backed by Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs

Since the product went live in January, several major U.S. banks have been added as partners to BlackRock's Space Bitcoin ETF, including the legendary Wall Street titan that has previously discounted crypto for years.

In a post-effective amendment filed on Friday, BlackRock named Citadel, Goldman Sachs, UBS and Citigroup as “permitted participants” for the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). The Authorized Participant is responsible for creating and purchasing shares of the Fund to keep the value of IBIT mixed with Bitcoin (BTC).

BlackRock confirmed to Decrypt that the new banks have been added as authorized participants.

“Additional Authorized Participants may be added at any time at the Sponsor's discretion,” BlackRock said in its revised prospectus.

The four new banks join an already distinguished list, including ABN AMRO, JP Morgan, Jane Street, Macquarie Capital and Virtu, which were named as partners in the fund a day before its official launch.

While information about the new additions is being circulated now, documents show that Goldman, UBS and Citigroup were added as approved participants on March 4. Rumors that Goldman Sachs might merge with both BlackRock and Grayscale have been circulating for months.

The latter addition seems to be at odds with the bank's officials' comments about the crypto industry. In a recent interview, the CIO of the bank's wealth management division, Sharmin Mosavar Rahmani, said that crypto is “not an investment asset class,” adding that she and her banking clients are “not believers in crypto.”

That said, Goldman Sachs has its own digital assets unit, with Asia-Pacific head Max Milton saying last month that “their biggest clients are active or looking to be active in the space.”

Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to Decrypt's request for comment.

Meanwhile, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan-whose company operates a rival Bitcoin ETF-mentioned the great interest of both retail clients and hedge funds, and says that the national account platforms will gradually include the products as ETF growth “will continue for years”.

“Big-time companies want a piece of the action and/or are now comfortable being publicly associated with it,” Bloomberg ETAT analyst Eric Balchunas said on Friday.

Since its launch on January 11, Bitcoin ETFs have taken in more than $12 billion in net inflows. The BlackRock ETF now holds more than $16 billion in assets.

Edited by Andrew Hayward.