BlackRock’s Bold AI & Crypto Gambits Pay Off Big: Bitcoin ETF Nears $100B, $40B Data-Center Deal Shakes Markets

Deep Dive: BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager – has staked a huge claim in AI, crypto and energy. In late 2024 it launched two active ETFs focused on AI and tech, calling AI a “mega force with broad investing implications”ts2.techreuters.com. Those funds hold leading semiconductor and software companies, capturing the current AI euphoria. Simultaneously, its iShares Bitcoin Trust capitalizes on the crypto craze. As CoinDesk notes, IBIT “has emerged as the asset manager’s most profitable ETF, with just under $100 billion in assets” less than two years after launchcoindesk.com.