Larry Fink says BlackRock wants to make crypto more democratized

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BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Bitcoin is an international asset in an interview that comes just weeks after the world’s largest asset manager asked to offer a spot Bitcoin ETF.

In an interview with Fox Business, Fink added that instead of putting money into gold to hedge against inflation, investors could buy Bitcoin.

The role of crypto is to digitize gold in several ways, he said.

Fink added that BlackRock has worked closely with regulators in the past on ETF applications and hopes the companies’ track record will help this latest application get approved.

What we’re trying to do with crypto is democratize it and make it much cheaper for investors, he said.

Although the CEO of BlackRock admitted that he was originally skeptical of crypto because it was used as a payment method for illicit activities, he has since changed his mind.

Bitcoin is an international asset that is not backed by any currency, so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative, he said.

BlackRock filed an application to create a spot Bitcoin ETF last month and was quickly followed by several other TradFi companies, including Fidelity. The asset manager has a near-perfect record for getting ETFs approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission, but the agency has never accepted an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF.

BlackRock faced a setback last week when the SEC called its enforcement inadequate, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Monday, Nasdaq, the exchange that would list BlackRocks ETF, resubmitted the company’s application.

The price of bitcoins has been trending up in recent weeks. The cryptocurrency hit a 52-week high at the end of June and has since mostly held above $30,000. It was trading down about 1%, near $30,500, Wednesday afternoon.

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