BlackRock’s CEO Larry Fink has for the first time specifically mentioned crypto, or digital assets as he calls it, in his annual letter to investors and CEOs.
“Beyond the headlines – and the media’s obsession with Bitcoin – very interesting developments are happening in the digital asset space,” Fink said in a wide ranging letter that covered events from Ukraine to the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.
“For the asset management industry, we believe the operational potential of some of the underlying technologies in the digital assets space could have exciting applications,” Fink argued.
“In particular, the tokenization of asset classes offers the prospect of driving efficiencies in capital markets, shortening value chains, and improving cost and access for investors.”
Just last month a Blackrock ETF, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF, was tokenized and is available for trading on Uniswap.
This token stock is one of the first to be carried out in a USDc manner, and it’s by an entity that claims to be fully regulated in Europe.
“At BlackRock we continue to explore the digital assets ecosystem, especially areas most relevant to our clients such as permissioned blockchains and tokenization of stocks and bonds,” Fink says.
They’ve explored far wider areas too as BlackRock has become the asset manager of USDc’s $37 billion.
They’ve also explored investing in bitcoin futures with a filing revealing in January that the BlackRock Global Allocation Fund might also invest in cash-settled bitcoin futures.
“We plan to apply the same standards and controls to digital assets that we do across our business,” Fink says in so effectively making official their crypto debut.
Fink also pointed out that America and Europe might be falling behind in payments, contrasting it to emerging markets.
“In many emerging markets – like India, Brazil and parts of Africa – we are witnessing dramatic advances in digital payments, bringing down costs and advancing financial inclusion.
By contrast, many developed markets, including the U.S., are lagging behind in innovation, leaving the cost of payments much higher.”
In a fairly new development, some are including crypto in this payments innovation with Fink’s comment above made in the context of crypto.
A statement that presumably suggests there’s room for growth, explaining the expanding involvement of one of the world’s biggest asset manager.
