Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, has recently expressed a more favorable view of Bitcoin, likening it to “digitizing gold”. Fink’s comments came during an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, where he discussed BlackRock’s recent filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF and the firm’s ongoing dialogue with regulators.
Fink, who once described Bitcoin as an “index of money laundering” back in 2017 when it was trading at just $5,800, now sees the leading cryptocurrency as a potential game-changer in the finance sector. He emphasized that Bitcoin is an international asset, not tied to any one currency, and could serve as an alternative investment for hedging against inflation or local currency devaluation.
Highlighting the importance of the flagship cryptocurrency, Fink asserted:
Bitcoin can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative. We believe that if we can create more tokenization of assets and securities – that’s what Bitcoin is – it could revolutionize finance.
The BlackRock CEO also addressed the firm’s recent filing for a spot Bitcoin ETF, a move that was quickly followed by other asset managers, including Fidelity. The filing has sparked a wave of optimism in the crypto space, with digital asset funds recording hundreds of millions of dollars of inflows since the announcement.
Fink expressed his hope that the firm’s track record of working closely with regulators would help in getting the Bitcoin ETF approved. He acknowledged the high costs associated with the current bid-ask spread for crypto and emphasized BlackRock’s commitment to making crypto more accessible and affordable for investors.
We’re trying to make crypto more democratized and much cheaper for investors. We hope our regulators look at these filings as a way to democratize crypto.
Despite the optimism, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to approve a spot Bitcoin ETF, citing concerns about fraud and potential market manipulation. However, market participants remain hopeful about BlackRock’s chances, given the firm’s history of nearly every ETF application being approved.
Fink’s pro-crypto sentiment has been met with positive reactions from the crypto community, with some speculating that his endorsement could potentially influence the price of Bitcoin. At the press time, Bitcoin was trading at $31,370, up 2% in the previous 24 hours.
