Here are 10 executives shaping BlackRock’s crypto strategy

Hello. I’m Aaron Weinman. BlackRock has slowly eased into the choppy sea of ​​digital assets.

BlackRock, along with other investors, committed $400 million in funding for fintech Circle, which issues a US dollar-pegged stablecoin known as USDC, in April. Shortly after, Insider first reported that BlackRock would launch a blockchain and crypto-themed exchange-traded fund.

Last month, BlackRock partnered with Coinbase to connect clients on its Aladdin platform with crypto. Later in August, BlackRock announced that it would launch a private trust to provide bitcoin exposure to its US institutional clients.

All this activity comes amid a severe decline in digital asset prices, layoffs at Coinbase and the possibility of new regulation from the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

BlackRock, one could argue, has done much more than just gain exposure to crypto. In fact, it has assembled its own crypto crew, Insider’s Rebecca Ungarino reported here.

Let’s take a look at 10 executives shaping the firm’s crypto efforts.

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1. BlackRock is leaning on 10 executives to iron out its strategy toward crypto and the broader digital asset space. The company’s foray into crypto comes amid a tough time for the space, which has been hampered by weakening asset prices and broader market volatility.

Despite crypto’s volatile nature, participation in the sector by the world’s largest money manager lends a large amount of credibility to the asset class.

Even with the decline, Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO, said on the firm’s July earnings call that it saw “more interest from institutional clients” on how to access crypto.

However, the main challenge for traditional financial services firms like BlackRock is to tap into the talent pool of digital assets. At the heart of the matter is getting legacy institutions to swing to the rapidly changing crypto world.

To help with that, BlackRock has assembled a crypto crew. Here is a little more about them.

In other news:

2. JPMorgan’s investment bank fees can drop up to 50% year on year, as revenues from underwriting and M&A decline, said the bank’s head of corporate and investment banking. Bank of America’s CEO also said BofA is likely to see a similar drop in fees, but added that the bank’s strong deal pipeline will help activity pick up as markets stabilize. However, both banks expressed caution against job cuts, unlike Goldman Sachs, which could lay off hundreds from this month.

3. Security startup Tanium is trying to cozy up to Microsoft and set itself up to be acquired. The $9 billion startup has had two rounds of job cuts in the past month as hopes for a potential IPO fade, current and former employees told Insider.

4. Peloton went from a $50 billion pandemic success story to laying off more than 4,000 of its workforce. Here’s how the home exercise company’s rise turned to a precipitous fall.

5. Goldman Sachs is set to raise about $15 billion for its latest mezzanine debt fund, Bloomberg reported. The fund, called GS Mezzanine Partners VIII, topped its initial target of $12.5 billion. When it comes to repayment to lenders, mezzanine debt lies between senior debt and equity financing in a business’s capital structure.

6. Rising interest rates and slowing economic growth have left many companies with high debt loads and higher interest payments. The Financial Times has made a list of so-called “debt monsters” that are flashing warning signals.

7. KKR has made a portion of its private equity funds available for individuals to invest in on a public blockchain, the Wall Street Journal reported. The investment company is working with digital assets specialist Securitize, which will symbolize an interest in KKR’s Healthcare Strategic Growth Fund. The fund will be available to investors via the public blockchain Avalanche.

8. Goldman Sachs’ biggest technology conference ever takes place in San Francisco. Technical executives from Microsoft and Qualcomm shared poor views of the space. Here is a view from inside the bank’s arrangement.

9. Twitter shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the social media company. With Musk trying to back out of the deal, shareholder approval of the original deal now sets the stage for a difficult legal battle. Here’s also a timeline of Musk’s chaotic nine-month saga to buy Twitter, from a poop emoji to a whistleblower appearing before Congress.

10. Gibson Dunn is one of the country’s most prestigious law firms. Here, two partners outline the qualities they look for and the questions they ask when recruiting summer employees.

People move:

• Vista Equity Partners has hired Michael Charlton as managing director of its capital and partner solutions unit. Charlton will lead investor relations for Vista’s credit platform. He was most recently MD of Anchorage Capital Group.
• Credit Suisse has lost two bankers to Morgan Stanley and Bank of Montreal, Bloomberg reported.
• Daniel Cavalli joins Morgan Stanley as managing director. He led Credit Suisse’s financial institutions coverage and M&A for Latin America.
• Amit Melwani, who joins the Canadian bank, was also an MD covering consumer and retail acquisitions.

Curated by Aaron Weinman in New York. Tips? Email [email protected] or tweet @aaronw11. Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.