One week ago it appeared that Blackrock appeared to be preparing to invest in Bitcoin futures, but now some comments from their CEO may call that into question.
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink referred to Bitcoin as a volatile asset in a very small market in a recent interview with Bloomberg, noting that “[Bitcoin] could be another store of wealth, but as of yet, it has yet to be tested. It has enormous volatility, moving in 5-6% increments with small dollar investments.”
Fink would continue on, adding that “It has not been proven yet on the long-term viability of it. Some form of a digitized currency is going to play a bigger role in the future, and it may be Bitcoin. It may be something else that has developed.”
Blackrock Already Had Bitcoin Exposure
Blackrock has already had some exposure to Bitcoin due to their stake in MicroStrategy. They made a $425 million initial investment in BTC in the summer of 2020 and has added thousands more Bitcoin into their holdings since that initial investment.
A week ago a pair of prospectus filings for two of of Blackrock’s funds appeared on the United States Securities and Exchange Commission’s website with both mentioning a potential to use Bitcoin derivatives and other assets as a part of their investment program.
Though neither of the filings was definitive about Blackrock entering the Bitcoin futures market, the writing seemed to be on the wall that a move was coming and the industry reacted accordingly. The asset management firm has nearly $8 trillion in assets and there have been rumors about their potential to enter the Bitcoin market previously as back in 2018 had set up a group to consider whether they should move into Bitcoin futures.
Whether Fink’s comments about BTC changes Blackrock’s intentions remains to be seen, but a major firm such as this would likely have a massive impact on the industry as a whole.
