BlackRock earned $82M as crypto AUM fell $30B

BlackRock recorded $82 million in revenue from its digital‑asset products in the first half of 2026, even as the value of the tokens backing those products declined sharply. The company reported $42 million in digital‑asset base fees and securities‑lending revenue in the first quarter and $40 million in the second.

Average digital‑asset assets under management were $67.74 billion in the first quarter and $61.48 billion in the second, but ending balances fell to $48.84 billion on June 30. Fees are charged on average balances, which limited the immediate impact of lower end‑of‑period holdings on revenue.

Most of the drop in assets came from market price moves rather than investor withdrawals. BlackRock attributed $27.4 billion of the first‑half reduction to lower crypto prices, $2.18 billion to net redemptions and $11 million to foreign‑exchange effects. Digital‑asset AUM fell from $78.44 billion at year‑end 2025 to $48.84 billion by June 30; market depreciation accounted for about 93% of that decline.

Flows varied across the period. The products attracted about $934 million in net inflows in the first quarter, but token price declines pushed assets down to $60.67 billion by March 31. In the second quarter, investors redeemed $3.12 billion and market moves erased an additional $8.71 billion, producing a 19.5% decline in digital‑asset AUM from March to June. Quarterly fees fell by only $2 million, or about 5%, between Q1 and Q2.

BlackRock’s flagship spot funds tracked the underlying tokens. Balances in the iShares Bitcoin Trust and iShares Ethereum Trust dropped from their start‑of‑year levels and then partially recovered after Bitcoin rallied toward $65,000 in July. By mid‑July the two funds held about $52.6 billion combined.

The firm is expanding how it earns revenue from digital markets. On the earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Martin Small said BlackRock manages roughly $110 billion of assets tied to digital markets and is targeting $500 million in annual digital‑asset revenue by 2030. He outlined three priority areas: connecting regulated investment products to blockchain networks, managing reserves that back stablecoins, and tokenizing traditional investment products so they can be distributed on blockchains. “Over the longer term, we want BlackRock’s products to be accessible natively where many investors already hold digital assets,” he said.

BlackRock manages about $60 billion of reserves for Circle’s USDC stablecoin, a share that represents roughly one‑fifth of the roughly $310 billion stablecoin market. Reserve‑management mandates would generate fees from the cash, Treasury securities and other liquid assets held against stablecoins and would build on the firm’s existing money‑market and cash‑management capabilities.

The company has broadened its crypto product lineup. In February it launched an iShares Staked Ethereum Trust that offers exposure to ETH plus staking rewards. In June it introduced an iShares Bitcoin Premium Income ETF that combines Bitcoin exposure with an options‑based income strategy. BlackRock has also filed registration statements for two tokenized money‑market offerings, including an Ethereum‑based share class and a version with digital features such as daily dividend reinvestment and the ability to accept stablecoin funding for subscriptions and redemptions. These filings build on the firm’s existing tokenized Treasury and cash‑management fund.

BlackRock entered the spot crypto ETF market in 2024. Its digital‑asset products generated about $174 million in net sponsor fees last year when token prices and investor demand were higher. The company is pursuing additional fee sources in digital markets alongside its spot ETF business.