Bitget CEO Gracy Chen confirmed the exchange is negotiating with BlackRock and other Wall Street asset managers to distribute tokenized ETFs across Asia. The talks target the platform's 125 million registered users, roughly half based in East and Southeast Asia, as BlackRock seeks to expand its digital-asset footprint in a region where crypto transactions grew 69 percent year-over-year.
Bitget is in talks with BlackRock and other Wall Street firms to distribute tokenized ETFs to 125 million users in Asia, CEO Gracy Chen said.
"I'm talking to all the Wall Street giants to understand where they are coming from and how we could collaborate," Chen told CoinDesk. "We have very close communication with BlackRock, for example, in terms of our distribution in the Asia market."
BlackRock, which manages $11.6 trillion in client assets, confirmed its crypto exchange-traded products are already available in Asia and said it regularly engages with virtual asset service providers, though it declined to comment on specific expansion plans. The asset manager has been deepening its digital-asset presence in the region, announcing a Singapore-based digital-assets role in December to shape strategy across Asia and identify first-mover opportunities.
The discussions come as Asia's blockchain-based crypto transactions grew 69 percent year-over-year as of June 2025, the fastest of any global region, according to an OECD report. BlackRock's APAC iShares head Nicholas Peach said at Consensus Hong Kong 2026 that even a 1 percent crypto allocation in Asia could unlock nearly $2 trillion in inflows, based on an estimated $108 trillion of household wealth in the region.
Bitget counts roughly half of its registered users in East and Southeast Asia. More than half — 52 percent, according to the exchange's Q1 2026 data — hold both cryptocurrencies and traditional stocks, creating a distribution channel for asset managers seeking investors who no longer separate the two asset classes.
The potential tie-up would extend a broader pattern of Wall Street firms using crypto-native platforms for distribution. Coinbase serves as custodian for the majority of BlackRock's bitcoin and Ethereum ETPs in the United States, Keith Grose, Coinbase's UK CEO, told CoinDesk. "Players like BlackRock are leading the way," Grose said. "They were the first to launch a Bitcoin at-scale ETP, and now they also have large funds onchain."
BlackRock has also expanded its tokenized cash offerings, launching new blockchain-based money market products in August. Its head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, said last week that the macro case for bitcoin is strengthening after record trading.
Whether the Bitget talks produce formal distribution agreements remains to be seen. BlackRock declined to detail any Asia expansion plans, and Chen said the conversations are exploratory as both sides assess collaboration opportunities. If realized, the arrangement would give Asian retail investors direct access to tokenized products through a crypto-native interface, potentially accelerating tokenization adoption across the region.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
