- Larry Fink talks about Bitcoin and crypto assets emerging as safe havens amid the currently unfolding banking crisis.
- The BlackRock CEO is bullish about asset tokenization and thinks crypto payments will catch momentum in the future.
Last week on March 15, Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager – released his annual letter to shareholders. In the letter, Fink addressed the recent developments with the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and the change in the risk environment for investors across the world.
He explained how the dynamics of global finance are shifting and what the future of investing seems like. In a section dubbed “Digital Assets,” the BlackRock CEO explains three major takeaways for crypto investors.
1. Bitcoin (BTC)
As the banking crisis unfolds in the United States and across Europe, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has been on everyone’s radar. Over the last week, the Bitcoin price has gained over 27 percent surging past $28,000 levels for the first time since June 2022.
As major cracks appear in the global banking system, Bitcoin (BTC) continues to be on investors’ radars at the moment. Also, amid the strong inflationary pressure, Bitcoin is emerging as a safe haven to protect investors’ savings.
However, Lary Fink is not all praises for Bitcoin at this moment. In his annual letter, Fink hints that investors are paying too much attention to Bitcoin amid other exciting developments taking place in the crypto sector. The BlackRock CEO specifically notes “the media’s obsession with Bitcoin”.
BlackRock has been dabbling into the crypto space for a while now. Last year in 2022, BlackRock joined hands with Coinbase to allow its institutional clients to handle and trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets. Besides, the largest asset manager is also continuing with some in-house projects in the crypto and blockchain space.
Although at one point BlackRock was skeptical of crypto, it seems to have moved past it and finally seen some worth in the asset class.
2. Asset Tokenization
This is another area where Larry Fink puts a strong emphasis. Although asset tokenization might not be quite appealing to crypto investors, it’s quite exciting for the players of traditional finance.
Asset tokenization basically means converting a real-world financial asset to a digital asset that is available for trade and storage on the blockchain platform. Some examples are tokenized stocks and bonds. As per BlackRock, asset tokenization would make the job of asset management much easier. Also, tZERO is one of the top asset tokenization platforms currently in the world.
For someone willing to get direct exposure to the crypto sector, one investment target could be the Layer 1 blockchain Avalanche. This blockchain platform is at the forefront of tokenizing financial assets and later putting them on the Avalanche blockchain.
3. Crypto Payments
Crypto payments have yet to take off in mainstream finance but Larry Fink touches down on this topic in his letter. Fink believes that the US is lagging behind other nations in adopting crypto as a means of purchase for daily purchases. However, he thinks that the trend of crypto payments could really pick up in emerging economies going ahead.
