Coinbase to Give BlackRock Clients Access to Crypto

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is working with asset management giant BlackRock to give its clients direct access to crypto.

The partnership is open to institutional clients of Aladdin, BlackRock’s end-to-end investment management platform, who will get access to bitcoin through Coinbase Prime, according to a Thursday (Aug. 4) Coinbase blog post.

Coinbase Prime will provide crypto trading, custody, prime brokerage and reporting capabilities to Aladdin’s institutional clients who are clients of Coinbase as well, the post stated. Coinbase Prime is designed for institutions and integrates services that include agency trading, custody, prime financing, staking and staking infrastructure.

“Our institutional clients are increasingly interested in gaining exposure to digital asset markets and are focused on how to efficiently manage the operational lifecycle of these assets,” said Joseph Chalom, who oversees strategic ecosystem partnerships at BlackRock, in the post. “This connectivity with Aladdin will allow clients to manage their bitcoin exposures directly in their existing portfolio management and trading workflows for a whole portfolio view of risk across asset classes.”

As PYMNTS reported Wednesday (Aug. 3), Coinbase is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to end a pair of lawsuits brought by users against the exchange until the company finishes appeals that it hopes will send the cases to arbitration.

Read more: Coinbase Tells Supreme Court to Stop 2 User Lawsuits in Crypto Cases

In one case, a customer wants Coinbase to reimburse him $31,000 for the money he lost by giving remote account access to a scammer.

The second case claims Coinbase violated California consumer law by conducting a $1.2 million dogecoin sweepstakes without properly disclosing that entrants didn’t have to buy or sell the cryptocurrency.

Both lawsuits seek class-action status, which would let more people become plaintiffs and get compensation for similar alleged wrongdoing by the crypto exchange.

Coinbase has tried to send both cases to arbitration but was blocked both times in federal court. The company argued arbitration is a required step according to its user agreements.

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