#159 BTC Blackrock Model Portfolios Arrive
Why BTC in model portfolios is big news
GM - this is The Snapshot, edition #159.
This is what I’ve got for you this week.
This Week In Web3 - The Institutions Circle
Sponsored Post - Pickleball & Web3 Education Receives 1 ETH funding
Notable Sales - Punks, Botto, XCOPY
Investment Focus - BTC Blackrock Model Portfolios Arrive
For sponsorship enquires, please DM me on Twitter.
Have a great day,
B
This Week In NFT World - The Institutions Circle
Crypto crash continues with BTC down 8% to $79k - bounces above $80k
"A rout in Bitcoin deepened on Friday as investors rushed to safe assets in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, marking a dramatic reality check for one of the most popular Trump trades. The cryptocurrency tumbled as much as 7.1% on Friday to the lowest since early November and is down some 27% since it hit an all-time high less than six weeks ago. The selloff came amid a broad plunge in cryptocurrencies, with Ether, Polkadot and XRP all dropping more than 7% on Friday."
From bloomberg
Bank of America CEO plans to enter stablecoin business
"according to Bank of America’s CEO Brian Moynihan. “It’s pretty clear there’s going to be a stablecoin,” Moynihan said in an interview with David Rubenstein on Tuesday. He added that stablecoins are digital assets like Bitcoin, but backed by the U.S. dollar—making them akin to a money market fund with check access or a bank account. “If they make that legal, we will go into that business,” Moynihan said. Under President Trump’s crypto-friendly administration, lawmakers are seeking to pass legislation on stablecoins."
From Fortune
Billionaire Ken Griffin to bring his market making firm Citadel into crypto arena
"The billionaire first hinted at these plans at the 2025 UBS Financial Services Conference on Feb. 11, with Bloomberg reporting Monday that the firm aims to act as a market maker on Coinbase, Binance, and crypto . com, citing sources. Citadel Securities, which processes $503 billion in daily trades, accounting for nearly 35% of all U.S. stock trading volume, is reportedly seeking to establish teams outside the U.S., per the report."
Hyperliquid becomes number 1 chain by revenue in 24 hour period this week
"total domination for Hyperliquid on perpetual swaps lately $1.1 billion+ in annualized revenue 62% marketshare and climbing recorded 18% of Binance's perp volume yesterday, all time high"
"Key takeaways: -Meme coins are NOT securities under U.S. law -SEC offers no investor protections - rug pulls & scams still a risk -Fraud conducted via memecoins can still face legal action under other federal & state laws -Not all meme coins are clear from being deemed a security, and if structured like a security (i.e. promising returns via a managed enterprise), SEC may intervene."
Sponsored Post - Pickleball & Web3 Education Receives 1 ETH funding
This week Lil Nouns DAO voted unanimously for pickleball and education with a 1 ETH grant!
Matt Taylor is a computer science educator and he proposed bringing his curriculum to underserved students in the Denver area, trying to onboard them to Lils and Web3 as part of the ETH Denver conference.
So many cool events he planned from computer science lessons, animation lessons, photography lessons and a pickleball event.
IRL events are an awesome place to connect in web3, and Lil Nouns DAO continues to support educators on the ground at conferences - always great to see + attend!
If you are curious about contributing to a cutting-edge DAO and getting paid to bring your ideas to life: check out our website.
Notable Sales - Punks, Botto, XCOPY
CryptoPunk, Ape - 1011 ETH
Botto, The Giraffe - 54 ETH
CryptoPunk, Tiara - 55 ETH
CryptoPunk, Eye Mask - 52.5 ETH
XCOPY, The Doomed - 25.69 ETH
Investment Focus - BTC Blackrock Model Portfolios Arrive
This is a big deal.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets under management, has recently added a 1% to 2% allocation of its iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) to its model portfolio that allows for alternative assets.
This is significant because it is the first time BlackRock has incorporated Bitcoin into its $150 billion model portfolio ecosystem.
This model may only represent one of IBIT’s smaller portfolios, but nevertheless this step integrates Bitcoin into mainstream investment strategies - these models suggest portfolios and rebalances which many advisors around the world take on board when making their investment decisions.
The bullish thinking here is - now that this is in place - more advisors will allocate their 1% or 2% to BTC, and maybe after BTC will be incorporated into different models too.
The Blackrock BTC ETF has been hugely successful, attracting over $37 billion in inflows since its January 2024 launch.
This appears to be the next step to encourage more people to allocate more towards BTC.
Final thought: reading all the headlines above, and reporting on them every day, I have noticed a distinct shift in emphasis towards institutional headlines. ie Blackrock, Stripe, Circle, Citadel etc.
Whilst crypto twitter may be despondent at the moment because of how hard they were rinsed by memecoin mania, it appears that institutions are unaffected, see the value proposition for blockchain as technology and BTC as a store of value.
Think we accelerate towards that vision over the next couple of years, even if that does not mean random meme/altcoins ever recover.
Have a great day,
B
Disclaimer: The content covered in this newsletter is not to be considered as investment advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only.
I hold some of the NFTs mentioned in these newsletters