As BlackRock accelerates its enlargement into digital property in 2025, the divergence between Bitcoin and Ethereum in institutional adoption has change into more and more pronounced. In a interview on the Empire podcast, Samara Cohen, Senior Managing Director and Chief Funding Officer of ETF and Index Investments at BlackRock, provided a uncommon window into how the world’s largest asset supervisor views the 2 largest crypto property — and why Bitcoin stands decisively forward of Ethereum in shopper demand and portfolio integration.
BlackRock’s historic launch of the iShares Bitcoin Belief (IBIT) marked a pivotal second within the agency’s digital asset technique. “It was all three of those things,” Cohen stated, referring to the elements that drove the Bitcoin product launch. “But it really did start with the investment thesis and client demand to market structure and readiness to obviously the regulatory backdrop.” Cohen emphasised that earlier than any regulatory greenlight, BlackRock’s determination was rooted within the sturdy want from traders to entry Bitcoin as a part of diversified portfolios.
The launch of IBIT was not BlackRock’s first transfer into Bitcoin. In 2022, the agency launched a non-public Bitcoin belief for institutional purchasers, a essential inner milestone. “We didn’t get hands-on to actual Bitcoin until we launched that institutional product in 2022,” Cohen defined. “That was a very important institutional moment for us to just get comfortable with the workflows and the risk management and the systems.”
The demand for Bitcoin was each broader and deeper than many had anticipated. IBIT has change into essentially the most profitable ETP launch in historical past, a truth Cohen attributes partially to a beforehand untapped section of traders. “Broadly speaking, about half of IBIT’s holders right now are what we call self-directed investors,” she famous. “For 3/4 of that population, they set up a brokerage account in some cases and bought their first ETP because they wanted their Bitcoin in the ETP wrapper.”
Bitcoin Vs. Ethereum
This stands in sharp distinction to Ethereum, the place Cohen’s tone was notably extra cautious. Whereas BlackRock has additionally launched Ethereum-based ETPs, demand has been far much less strong. “Ethereum is still a distant second,” she stated when discussing institutional investor curiosity. Not like Bitcoin, which is more and more seen as a possible retailer of worth and a diversifying asset class, Ethereum’s funding thesis has but to solidify on the institutional degree.
Cohen elaborated on the complexity establishments face when evaluating Ethereum. “You might be really bullish on the utility of the public Ethereum blockchain but not know how that translates into value accrual to the native token,” she stated. This uncertainty complicates the case for broad-based adoption. Whereas Bitcoin’s narrative as a “borderless store of value” is comparatively easy, Ethereum’s positioning stays extra opaque, intertwining technological utility with questions on token economics, competitors, and long-term market dynamics.
Past the narrative hole, Cohen recognized a extra structural impediment: crypto’s common lack of standardized knowledge and metrics. “Crypto does broadly have a data and standards problem,” she acknowledged. Drawing comparisons to conventional markets, Cohen emphasised that metrics like money circulate, governance, and group transparency — essential elements for fairness investing — are largely absent or inconsistent throughout most crypto property. “If I think about indexing fundamentally as an organizing technology for a market, how do you perform that task in crypto right now?” she requested rhetorically, highlighting how foundational requirements stay lacking even in main crypto ecosystems.
Bitcoin’s adoption, in contrast, is supported by clearer metrics round its shortage, issuance schedule, and market infrastructure maturity, making it simpler to suit into conventional portfolio fashions. Cohen confirmed that BlackRock recommends a 1–2% Bitcoin allocation for traders in search of publicity, rooted in detailed evaluation of danger contribution to portfolios. “If you go beyond 2%, the incremental contribution to overall portfolio volatility gets exponentially higher,” she warned.
Whereas Ethereum continues to make technological strides — significantly in decentralized finance and onchain purposes — BlackRock’s view, at the least for now, displays the truth that establishments require readability, standardization, and well-defined valuation fashions earlier than committing significant capital. As Cohen summarized, “Understanding how to create a valuation framework for Ethereum or any other token gets more complicated.”
At press time, BTC traded at $95,120.
Featured picture created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
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