The long-awaited Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) was launched in January of this year. Samara Cohen (Samara Cohen), BlackRock's chief investment officer responsible for ETF and index investments, said that financial advisors are gradually adopting these funds for asset allocation.

Speaking at the Coinbase State of Crypto Summit (Coinbase State of Crypto Summit) in New York on Thursday, Cohen said, “Currently, about 80% of Bitcoin ETF purchases are likely to come from 'independent investors', who usually allocate them through online brokerage accounts.” iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) was one of the first funds to debut earlier this year.

Cohen pointed out that according to the 13-F documents of the previous quarter, hedge funds and brokerage firms are also buyers, but registered investment advisors are more “alert.”

Foreign media recently surveyed its advisory board to find out why they and their colleagues are so cautious about the new product, because the new product represents a regulated and familiar investment product, and this new asset class has aroused great interest in recent years. The answers range from Bitcoin's notorious price volatility to the fact that a flagship cryptocurrency has just been born and has yet to establish significant tracking records. Regulatory compliance and cryptocurrency's notoriety due to fraud and scandals were also issues that the advisors considered.

“I would call them vigilantes... it's their job.” Speaking about skeptical financial advisors, Cohen said.

She added, “Investment advisors are clients' trustees. Historically, the price fluctuation rate for assets such as (Bitcoin) has been as high as 90%, and the job of investment advisors is to build portfolios, conduct risk analysis, and due diligence. They are also currently implementing in this direction.”

She added, “In terms of actually presenting important data, risk analysis [and determining] the role Bitcoin can play in an investment portfolio, this is a moment to consider what kind of allocation is appropriate based on investors' risk tolerance and liquidity needs.” She commented, “This is what consultants are supposed to do, so I think the path we're on is completely right; they're doing their job.”

Cohen said she sees a Bitcoin ETF as a bridge between cryptocurrency and traditional finance, especially for investors interested in allocating Bitcoin without managing risk in two different ecosystems. Before ETFs, the existing cryptocurrency channel wasn't enough to meet the needs of some investors, she said.

Coinbase CFO Alesia Haas (Alesia Haas) said that Bitcoin “is in a slow process of adoption,” and this was the subject of various sessions at the conference.

Blue Macellari (Blue Macellari), head of digital asset strategy at T.RowePrice, pointed out that some investors think the 1% allocation is safe and comfortable. She said that the allocation of Bitcoin included in the portfolio was a binary event and should be greater than 1% or equal to zero, but she also acknowledged that the adoption of Bitcoin was more cautious.

Macellari said, “Currently (with Bitcoin) people have a psychological factor where they need to test the waters and adapt to it. It's a paradigm shift... it takes time for people to slowly adapt.”