'Assets of fear': BlackRock CEO Larry Fink FLIPS on crypto

BlackRock's CEO has seemingly changed his mind about the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

Investor Larry Fink famously criticized Bitcoin in 2017 when he called it an "index of money laundering" that simply showed how much demand there was in the world to launder funds.

'I do see more and more of a future of having more and more financial assets being digitized.'

Now, during a sit-down with the CEO of hedge fund Citadel, Ken Griffin, Fink said he sees cryptocurrency wallets being used to make stock moves en masse in the near future.

Fink revealed during the conference that if he could "tokenize" all ETFs and provide them in a digital wallet, users would be able to seamlessly make trades.

"You could seamlessly, without fees, ... buy bond or stocks, and I believe that is going to be the future," Fink said. "I do believe more transactions [are] going to be done digitally with authentication of ownership."

He added, "I do see more and more of a future of having more and more financial assets being digitized, sitting in a singularity of a blockchain and going from cash to stocks to bonds, back and forth, doing that seamlessly, and I do believe that is going to happen sooner, not later."

During the same event, Fink described Bitcoin as an investment made out of fear, but not in the way one might think.

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Fink described Bitcoin and gold along similar lines, calling them "assets of fear" that investors scoop up when they are "frightened of the debasement of your currency."

"You own it if you have financial insecurities, or you own it if you have physical insecurities and worries. So, that's one of the foundational issues of my journey in understanding crypto more."

Fink has confused audiences over the years with his remarks on digital currency, both in his evolving stance on the asset and, of course, his — along with other major institutions — apparent inability to recognize that it is in fact being used as he prophesies it will be used in the future.

Fink's pontifications about the future of crypto, fiat, ETFs, and stocks/bonds being traded seamlessly on apps are already a reality. Countless companies allow direct deposit of paychecks to digital wallets, the same as any bank, while also providing the ability to trade stocks and cryptocurrency in-house.

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French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Larry Fink. Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

It is unclear if BlackRock's plan was to slow-walk its investors into cryptocurrency cautiously, but its CEO has certainly made gradual strides in the direction of acceptance, hallmarked by his most recent comments.

In 2024, Fink seemed to turn a new leaf when he admitted he was wrong about Bitcoin and told CNBC he thought it had become a legitimate asset.

"It is a legitimate financial instrument that allows you to maybe have uncorrelated type of returns. I believe it is an instrument that you invest in when you're more frightened, though. It is an instrument when you believe countries are debasing their currency by excess deficits, and some countries are," Fink explained.

Moreover, the CEO even referred to Bitcoin as "digital gold," which is now in step with his recent description of the asset.

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