Artificial intelligence, bitcoin as top BlackRock ETF place
Black Rock A shift is evident among Big Tech investors.
Jay Jacobs, the firm’s head of U.S. equity ETFs, thinks they’re leaning into targeted themes like artificial intelligence.
“One of the biggest trades we’ve seen this year is people moving away from the traditional tech sector and into AI-specific ETFs like BAI. [the iShares A.I. Innovation and Tech Active ETF] from BlackRock,” Jacobs said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” program this week.
According to Jacobs, the fund gives investors access to large language models in the AI ecosystem from semiconductor manufacturers.
BlackRock’s iShares website listed Nvidia, broadcom, Meta PlatformsAnd Microsoft As of this week, it is among BAI’s largest assets.
Factset calculates that electronic technology and technology services stocks account for more than 85% of its assets. On Friday, the ETF lost nearly 5% along with the tech-heavy Nasdaq. However, BAI is up 36% since its inception on October 21.
‘People want to play this theme, which is potentially quite destructive’
Jacobs is also optimistic about blockchain-related stocks, noting that strong enthusiasm for Ethereum has significantly increased investor interest.
defends BlackRock’s claim The iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), a passively managed fund that tracks the spot price of Ether, has been one of the beneficiaries of this trend. It’s up almost 42% over the past 12 weeks from Friday’s close.
“Ethereum is really a bet on blockchain technology and other ways to use it through things like stablecoins and tokenization,” Jacobs said. “People want to play into this potentially very subversive theme.”
The founder and CEO of Amplify ETF also sees opportunity in the cryptocurrency space. The company offers access via blockchain Power Transformational Data Sharing ETF (BLOCK). According to the Amplify ETF website, it is an actively managed fund that invests in companies directly involved in the development or deployment of blockchain infrastructure.
“Blockchain has a variety of use cases, such as stablecoins for payments or the tokenization of assets that could be in real estate or stocks,” Christian Magoon said in the same interview. “We think this is an important theme that will impact not only technology but also fintech and of course the crypto community.”
Magoon also pointed out that the new regulations are a negative development for the sector. In July, President Donald Trump signed into law the GENIUS Act stablecoin legislation, which could increase investor confidence in stablecoins.
“We are pioneers in this space and we think the uptrend will continue, especially given the current administration and some of the regulatory moves we are seeing from exchanges and major capital markets participants,” he added.
BLOCK fell more than 5% on Friday but is still up almost 89% over the past year.
