BlackRock CEO Labels Bitcoin as International Asset as Firm Awaits Approval for BTC ETF Listing

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has extended a strong support to the overall cryptocurrency sector as his firm awaits approval to list a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. In a recent interview with Fox Business, the 70-year-old billionaire said cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin will revolutionise the fintech sector as we know and use today. Fink’s statement contributed to today’s crypto sector performance with BTC trading at $30,448 (roughly Rs. 25 lakh) and the overall crypto market valuation standing at $1.19 trillion (roughly Rs. 98,11,514 crore).

Crypto assets will be used to digitise gold, Fink said in his statement. In a suggestion to the US regulators, Fink said that ETF filings could democratise cryptocurrencies because investors will have an option to choose BTC, or other crypto assets could be used as a hedge against inflation.

“Let’s be clear, Bitcoin is an international asset. It’s not based on any one currency, and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative,” the veteran finance mogul can be heard saying in a clipping, shared by MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who himself is a BTC enthusiast.

Fink’s comments resemble the opinions of Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of stablecoin issuer Circle Pay, who recently said that stablecoins can digitise the US dollar to overcome what Allaire described as, an ongoing ‘de-dollarisation’ in the market. When other countries in the world begin to reduce their dependency on the US dollar as a reserve currency or a medium of exchange, that process is called ‘de-dollarisation’.

Allaire said the US could lay out guidelines around the permissible use-cases of US dollar-backed stablecoins, that will help boost investment in the dollar by the international Web3 community.

In a hopeful vision for the future, Fink has advised US regulators to work with the crypto industry players and create a systematic ecosystem.

“We could be working with our regulators and get the filing approved one day, and I have no idea what that one day will be, but we’ll see how that all plays out,” Fink said.

As of 2022, BlackRock, touted as the world’s biggest asset manager, had $8.7 trillion (roughly Rs. 7,17,84,570 crore) worth of assets under its management.

In June, the company’s iShares Bitcoin Trust filed for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would allow investors to get exposure to the cryptocurrency.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are financial products that are regulated and can represent a wide array of different assets. An ETF also keeps track of the price fluctuations of an underlying asset, giving people an alternative to extract profits from the price trend of the asset without really owning even one unit of it.

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