BlackRock CEO Larry Fink reiterated his belief in Bitcoin on Monday morning on CNBC.
”I’m a major believer that there is a role for Bitcoin in portfolios,” Fink said, adding that it is “one of the asset classes that we all look at.”
Fink said he had been a “proud sceptic” of the top cryptocurrency in the past — he called it an “index of money laundering” in 2017 — but had changed his mind about it.
He cited fear of monetary debasement as a prime reason why investors may be interested in gaining exposure to the cryptocurrency, especially in countries suffering from high levels of inflation.
”It’s an instrument that you invest in when you’re frightened,” Fink said. “You have an opportunity to invest in something that is outside your country’s control.”
Referring to the cryptocurrency as “digital gold,” Fink added that he saw Bitcoin as a hedge against the optimism he has in the world.
“Bitcoin is not an instrument for hope — unless you’re hopeful you’re going to make a lot of money on it,” he said.
It’s not the first time Fink has praised Bitcoin. In August 2023, as BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, geared to get its spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund off the ground, Fink said crypto was “digitising gold in many ways.”
He also told Fox Business in January that he had come around to Bitcoin after seeing its international nature. “It’s bigger than any government,” he said.
BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF has accumulated $18.2 billion in assets since it launched in January and has been deemed an unprecedented by analysts.
“Hard to overstate how big a deal it is for Larry Fink, who runs $10.6 trillion, to keep giving these full throated endorsements of Bitcoin as legit asset class for everyday portfolios,” Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas posted on X.
“Buy in from BlackRock — as well as other legacy firms like Fidelity — gives boomer advisors comfort and cover to make the allocation,” Balchunas said.
Crypto market movers
Bitcoin is up 5% in the last 24 hours, trading for $63,000.
Ethereum rose by 5.7% in the same period, at $3,400.
What we’re reading
How crypto firms are taking advantage of MiCA’s patchy roll-out — DL News
Crypto Funds See $1.44B Inflows As Bitcoin Reclaims $62,000 — Milk Road
Trump-Themed Tokens Soar, Odds of Election Win Hit 71% on Polymarket — Unchained
Hong Kong Shares List Of 7 Suspicious Crypto Exchanges — Milk Road
North Korean hackers are infiltrating crypto job boards in a ‘quiet war’ that rakes in $600m — DL News
Tom Carreras is a markets correspondent at DL News. Got a tip about Bitcoin and Larry Fink? Reach out at tcarreras@dlnews.com
