“Bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrument,” says BlackRock CEO

Key Takeaways

• BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has shifted from a Bitcoin skeptic to a believer, calling it a legitimate financial instrument.
• BlackRock's BUIDL fund has tokenized over $524 million in US Treasuries using the Ethereum blockchain.

During his participation on CNBC’s Squawk On The Street, BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink recognized his role as a previous Bitcoin (BTC) skeptic and now a BTC believer.

“As you know, I was a skeptic. I was a proud skeptic. And I studied it, learned about it, and I came away saying ‘Ok, my opinion of five years was wrong, and here’s my opinion today.’ This is what I believe in today, I believe in the opportunity, I believe Bitcoin is legitimate,” stated Fink by answering a question from Jim Cramer, one of the show’s hosts.

Additionally, Fink added that “he’s not trying to say there aren’t missuses, like everything else,” but it is a “legitimate financial instrument” that allows people to have returns uncorrelated to the rest of the market.

“It is an instrument that you invest when you are more frightened, it is an instrument when you believe that countries are debasing their currencies by the excess of deficit, and some countries are. I believe we have countries where you are frightened of your everyday existence, and if you have an opportunity to invest in something that is outside your country’s control, then you can have more financial control.”

Furthermore, Fink shared his belief that Bitcoin is one of the asset classes that everyone would look at, doubling down that he looks at the crypto as “digital gold,” and even mentioning that Bitcoin has an “industrial use” that many people are missing.

BlackRock bolstering crypto

BlackRock was the major force driving the approval of both Bitcoin and Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds (ETF) in the US. Despite the efforts applied by other notorious players over a decade, the entrance of the largest asset manager in the world was the final push needed for the SEC to buckle in.

Moreover, the asset manager entered the tokenization industry with its BUIDL fund. According to on-chain data aggregator RWA.xyz , the BUIDL now has over $524 million in US Treasuries tokenized using the Ethereum blockchain and is the largest in this sector.