BlackRock CEO Advocates for Tokenization and Bitcoin Revolution in Finance

Larry Fink, the CEO and founder of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, shared his views on Bitcoin and its potential during an interview this Wednesday, July 5th. The BlackRock CEO spoke about his company’s recent Bitcoin spot ETF filing, noting that ETF was a big revolution in the mutual funds industry.

More than that, Fink said that ETFs are taking over the mutual funds 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 added.

Bitcoin is more than an alternative to gold

While Fink spoke about Bitcoin, it is presumed that he generally referenced the crypto industry. Using the Ordinals protocol, Bitcoin can be tokenized alongside other assets. However, tokenization is typically the domain of Ethereum, among other services and products that its network offers.

Fink continued by saying that the role of cryptocurrency is digitizing gold. He explained that Bitcoin is a better option than gold as a hedge against financial issues of any one country. It is an international asset, not based on any one currency, and it can be an asset that people can use as an alternative to fiat.

However, Bitcoin does not quite correlate with gold. As such, it is more than a simple alternative to the noble metal. Unlike gold, Bitcoin can be used to pay for goods and services. On the other hand, there is Ethereum, which allows users to invest in DeFi for yield. It also offers tokenization services, which can be a business model for new startups

Fink pointed it out as an advancement of technology. Because of it, there is no need for custodians anymore, and the entire process of finance will be disrupted as intermediaries are no longer required.

Given that Fink is the CEO of a company that oversees over $9 trillion in assets, his words have intrigued people in and out of the crypto sector. His company managed more money than the combined GDP of the UK and Germany. In fact, it represents nearly half of the GDP of the entire US, and about twice its tax intake.

BlackRock’s ETF shows its support of Bitcoin

BlackRock is not a particularly old company, all things considered. It has been around for 30 years, which is a lengthy period, but not as long as some other firms that have been operating for multiple decades. During its 30 years, the company filed for 576 ETFs. Out of all of them, only one got rejected — the latest Bitcoin spot ETF. The US SEC said it was not transparent enough, which the regulator could not allow.

The entire financial industry found it interesting that this one ETF was not compliant with the SEC’s rules, given that over 570 others were perfect. The timing of their filing was also curious, as BlackRock filed the ETF just as the SEC cracked down on Coinbase and Binance.

However, Fink seems to believe that Bitcoin does have potential. It is worth noting that he used to be a crypto skeptic, but then again, at some point, even some of the coin’s core developers were skeptical of it. He is not the only one to change his opinion on cryptocurrency. Some big names in the financial industry, like Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan, are still known as the holdouts. Despite this, there is a noticeable change in attitude toward digital assets on Wall Street.

Young banking institutions were able to approach the industry with an open mind, and they understood why it was necessary. This is why BlackRock stood up against Gary Gensler, the SEC Chairman, by filing the ETF. The ETF will also encourage institutional investors to start using and profiting from the crypto industry, using a product that is more familiar to them than the cryptocurrency itself.