Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management firm, recently expressed his belief that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency at large have the potential to “revolutionize” the finance sector.
Fink likened cryptocurrency to “digitizing gold,” highlighting its transformative potential during an interview with Fox Business.
BlackRock, which manages assets worth over $9 trillion, is currently seeking regulatory approval for a spot Bitcoin ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund). This move signifies a shift in mainstream financial institutions’ stance towards crypto assets, as they explore ways to incorporate them into their offerings.
However, the proposal has hit a roadblock with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC recently informed the CBOE and Nasdaq, the entities responsible for filing Bitcoin ETF applications on behalf of BlackRock and Fidelity, that their submissions were not “sufficiently clear and comprehensive.”
Despite these initial hurdles, Fink remains optimistic and open to collaborating with regulators to ensure compliance.
“We work really closely with our regulators and we want to hear from our regulators – what are their issues and can we fix those issues around that”, he stated.
Fink believes that the tokenization of assets and securities, which Bitcoin represents, could revolutionize finance.
“We do believe if we can create more tokenization of assets and securities, and that’s what bitcoin is, it could revolutionize again, finance. We look at this as an opportunity to move one step further in terms of providing investors fractions of shares, fractions of this, democratizing the cost of investing,” he added.
Fink’s current enthusiasm for crypto is a significant departure from his previous skepticism, which was fueled by concerns about its use for illicit activities. However, his perspective has evolved, and he now sees the potential for crypto to play a role akin to digital gold.
“I do believe the role of crypto is digitizing gold in many ways,” he said.
The volatile nature of cryptocurrencies is well-documented, with Bitcoin rallying nearly 90% in 2023 after a 64% plunge last year, following a 60% surge in 2021.
Despite these wild swings, Fink remains optimistic about the future of digital currencies.
As of Thursday, Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, was trading at $31,303, marking a 2.17% increase.
