Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, says bitcoin is an international asset and crypto can be used instead of gold to hedge against inflation, the onerous problems of any country, as well as currency devaluation. Blackrock, which has a near-perfect track record of getting exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said it is working closely with regulators to get its spot bitcoin trust ETF filing approved.
Blackrock’s Larry Fink on Bitcoin, ETF Filing, and Crypto Democratization
Larry Fink, the chairman and CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock, discussed bitcoin, crypto investing, and his company’s spot bitcoin trust exchange-traded fund (ETF) filing in an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday.
The world’s largest asset manager filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a spot bitcoin trust ETF on June 15. Since then, the price of bitcoin has soared as the crypto community is optimistic that the securities regulator will soon approve the first spot bitcoin ETF in the U.S. Last week, Blackrock resubmitted its application, naming the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase as the custodial surveillance partner for the spot bitcoin trust. Blackrock has a track record of getting ETFs approved, with only one rejection out of its 576 filings.
Commenting generally on the odds of a Blackrock ETF getting approved by the SEC, Fink said: “We try to do it right for the long-term investor, and I think we have a good track record working with our regulators and trying to make sure we are thinking about all the issues around any filing.” He added:
We work really closely with our regulators, and we want to hear from the regulators — what are their issues and how can we fix those issues around that.
“We hope that, like in the past, we could be working with our regulators and get the filing approved one day, and I have no idea what that one day will be, but we’ll see how that all plays out,” Fink clarified.
The Blackrock executive proceeded to talk about bitcoin. “Specifically on bitcoin, as I’ve said in the past, we are a believer in digitization of products,” he described. “ETFs was a big revolution for the mutual fund industry; it’s really taking over the mutual fund industry. We do believe that if we can create more tokenization of assets and securities, and that’s what bitcoin is, it can revolutionize again finance.” He further stressed: “We hope our regulators look at these filings as a way to democratize crypto.”
Reflecting on his initial skepticism towards bitcoin, Fink acknowledged that his skepticism arose due to the prevalent association of the cryptocurrency with “illicit activities” during its early usage before BTC became more accessible. The Blackrock boss additionally noted:
Also I do believe the role of crypto is digitizing gold in many ways — instead of investing in gold as a hedge against inflation, a hedge against the onerous problems of any one country, or the devaluation of your currency, whatever country you are in. Let’s be clear: Bitcoin is an international asset. It’s not based on any one currency and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative.
When asked whether he owns any bitcoin, Fink declared: “I don’t own anything other than mutual funds and ETFs.”
Commenting on the utility of bitcoin’s underlying technology, Fink explained:
I actually believe that the underlying technology is fantastic.
He detailed that “the blockchain will help you accelerate the processes of transactions” and “will help you identify.” Fink noted that with the knowledge of who the buyers and sellers are, “we don’t need custodians anymore,” adding that this would result in a breakdown of the entire financial process and intermediaries. Nonetheless, the Blackrock executive acknowledged: “We are not close to there but it’s an advancement of technology. It’s no different than the spirit around AI and what AI can do.”
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