IBLC vs LEGR

IBLCBiShares Blockchain and Tech ETF

LEGRBFirst Trust Indxx Innovative Transaction & Process ETF

In short

IBLC BlackRock's picks-and-shovels take on crypto: roughly 40 global companies that build, run and use blockchain technology. You own the businesses around the coins, in a plain stock ETF, rather than the coins themselves.

LEGR Blockchain, hold the coins. LEGR has tracked the Indxx Blockchain Index since January 2018, owning roughly 110 global companies that build with the technology or stand to benefit from it, rather than the tokens themselves.

Stated mandate

IBLC The fund seeks to track an index of global companies that develop, innovate in, and apply blockchain and crypto technologies, providing exposure to firms involved in digital transformation and blockchain applications.

LEGR The Fund seeks to track the performance of the Indxx Blockchain Index before fees and expenses. The index targets companies involved with blockchain technology or positioned to benefit from its use in business processes.

Why people hold it

• IBLC Costs 0.47% a year, under the 0.56% median for its global thematic peer group.
• Holds listed stocks in an ordinary ETF wrapper. No wallet, no coin custody, no crypto exchange account.ishares.com
• The index is rules-based and refreshes as the blockchain universe shifts, so miners, exchanges and chipmakers move in and out on the rules, not a manager's hunch.blackrock.com
• Casts a global net: US and non-US names both qualify, from an iShares desk that has run index funds for decades.ishares.com

• LEGR A first-wave name: launched January 2018, and it has tracked the same blockchain index through a full crypto boom and bust.
• Picks and shovels, not whitepapers: roughly 110 global stocks either working with blockchain or positioned to benefit from it inside their own business processes.
• Spreading the theme across about 110 operating companies keeps any single name from dominating, and the fund sits in the upper half of its global thematic peer group.

Worth knowing

• IBLC About 40 names. A handful of crypto-linked businesses steer the ride, and swings can be far sharper than a broad global index.
• Thinly traded and modest in size, so spreads can run wider than at mega-funds, especially during wild crypto sessions.
• Distributions land annually or semiannually at most. This is a theme basket, not an income holding.

• LEGR The 0.65% expense ratio sits above the typical fee among global thematic ETFs, and several funds in that group charge a fraction of it.
• It trades thinly, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than on giant ETFs. Limit orders do real work here.
• Stocks, not coins. Crypto moves reach this fund only through share prices of companies where blockchain may be one line in a much larger business.

Full IBLC profile⁠

Full LEGR profile⁠