Jay Jacobs of BlackRock tells Anthony Pompliano the biggest impact of the Bitcoin ETFs: they made Bitcoin as easy to buy as clicking a button in a brokerage account. Financial advisors and institutions that could once avoid the Bitcoin conversation suddenly had to decide whether it belongs in their portfolios. With Anthony noting that Bitcoin's volatility has compressed from around 80 to about 35 to 40, Jay credits a deeper options market and more long-term buyers coming into the space.
Anthony asks whether Wall Street ownership has changed what Bitcoin is. Jay says the investor base has shi...
What Anthony Pompliano said
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Anthony Pompliano interviewed Jay of BlackRock about the impact of Bitcoin ETFs on the industry. Jay said the ETFs increased access for individuals, advisers, and institutions, making Bitcoin exposure as easy as buying an S&P 500 fund. He attributed volatility compression to a more robust market and long-term buyers, but argued Bitcoin's fundamental characteristics as a global, decentralized monetary alternative remain unchanged. Pompliano discussed how the investor base has shifted towards interest-rate-sensitive, long-term holders. Jay noted Bitcoin and Ethereum comprise two-thirds to three-quarters of digital asset market cap, and BlackRock focuses on these with products like IBIT, ETHB (staked Ethereum ETP), and BID, which overlays 30% covered calls to generate income on Bitcoin exposure, driven by client demand for cash flow.
Key takeaways
Bitcoin ETFs made access as easy as buying an S&P 500 fund, accelerating adoption by advisers and institutions.
Bitcoin's volatility compressed due to a more liquid market and long-term buyers, but its fundamentals remain unchanged.
Bitcoin and Ethereum make up two-thirds to three-quarters of total digital asset market cap, guiding BlackRock's focus.
BlackRock's BID product offers Bitcoin exposure with 30% covered calls to generate income for cash-flow-focused portfolios.
The investor base shift to long-term holders hasn't altered Bitcoin's role as a global monetary alternative.
All right, Jay. The Bitcoin ETFs are the most successful ETF product to ever launch, it seems. You guys were a pioneer. I remember when you guys filed for the ETF, I said, "We're going to get it approved." And that's probably going to be a pretty big deal for the industry. When you look back now, what has been the actual measurable impact on the Bitcoin industry from these ETFs?
I think the biggest impact has just been the amount of people that can now participate in the Bitcoin ecosystem. So if you think about before these ETFs existed, people had to go sign up on a digital asset exchange. That was a friction for many individuals. That was a prohibition for many institutions that didn't have that ability, or just an incredibly long and arduous process for even many financial advisers or RIAs that had the ability to do that and set up all the plumbing for digital asset exchanges, but just they weren't there yet from a conviction behind Bitcoin perspective. So once the Bitcoin ETPs like IBIT came out, it just made it as easy to access as clicking a button on a brokerage account, just like you buy the S&P 500 or buy an individual stock. And so what that meant was individual investors, so many more had access to a vehicle tracking Bitcoin. Financial advisers over time got access because we saw a lot of financial advisor platforms approve IBIT and frankly approve Ether or Ethereum ETF as well. And institutions now suddenly had a very liquid vehicle to express their views as well. So it increased access. What I think it also did was before IBIT, many advisers and institutions could kind of avoid the Bitcoin conversation, like they — it was like, I can't ignore it.
Yeah. They couldn't buy it. So you know, everyone has so much on their plate at all times in these institutions. So are you going to spend time learning about Bitcoin, or are you going to spend time thinking about like your asset allocation between stocks and bonds? I think a lot of them focused on the latter. Once exposure to Bitcoin became available to them with IBIT, it had to be a part of the conversation of how do they think about this asset class? Does it fit in their portfolio? What are they getting when they allocate to Bitcoin in a broader portfolio? And so it just really accelerated those conversations within some of the most sophisticated institutions in the world.
It seems like Bitcoin's volatility has compressed. It was, you know, an 80-ish vol asset. Now it's like a 35-40 vol asset. I have heard people claim that it's because just Wall Street's participating in general. Some people say it's the ETF. Some people say no, it's actually all of the leverage and options and various other instruments being put on top of it. Do you guys have a view as to like why Bitcoin's volatility has been compressing, and will it continue to compress, and people should think of that as part of like the Bitcoin story going forward?
You know, I don't think we have a universal answer, but I think a few factors have certainly contributed. You know, one, with the buildout of the ETPs, with the buildout of the options market around the ETPs, it's created more ways for people to participate in Bitcoin, and that creates a more robust market. So when there's — when people are looking for liquidity or people are looking to put on more complex trades, there's just — there's a market that can support that now because of IBIT. And so that should help reduce some of the volatility. I think secondly, again, because more people can participate in it, there's more research, there's more conviction, there's more long-term buyers that have come into the space that can be kind of the counterbalance to people who are maybe doing more short-term trading strategies. That has helped reduce volatility as well. But overall, having more people participate in a more liquid, more robust market can help bring down volatility.
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Pompliano, A. (2026, October 5). BlackRock's Plan to Make Bitcoin PAY You [Interview transcript]. Anthony Pompliano Clips. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2989978/
MLA
Anthony Pompliano. "BlackRock's Plan to Make Bitcoin PAY You." Anthony Pompliano Clips, 5 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2989978/.
BibTeX
@misc{pompliano2026_2989978,
author = {Anthony Pompliano},
title = {BlackRock's Plan to Make Bitcoin PAY You},
howpublished = {Interview transcript, Anthony Pompliano Clips. CEOInterviews.AI},
year = {2026},
month = {oct},
url = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/2989978/},
note = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}
