Lawrence Fink of BlackRock sees a "big role for digitized currency"
In an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box , Larry Fink, the CEO of the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock, revealed that he partially agrees with Jamie Dimon's opinion on cryptocurrencies. Fink noted that, like the CEO of JP Morgan, he didn't see much value in digital currencies.
Responding whether he changed his mind about providing crypto products or accessing investors, he said BlackRock was in the process of evaluating cryptocurrencies and general blockchain technology. The executive also stated that he was not sure if the asset would shoot up or down.
He, however, noted how impressive it is that investors have researched cryptocurrency to diversify their investments. In his opinion, Fink believes that digital currencies will play a big role in the future.
"I'm not a Bitcoin student, and where this is going, I can't say whether it's going to $80,000 or zero. But I believe there's a big role for a digitized currency, and I believe this will help consumers around the world." he said.
During the interview with Squawk Box, in which he also discussed the status of investments in global markets, Fink disclosed that the company had not noticed much interest in digital assets.
"We see very little demand for these kinds of things [cryptocurrencies]."
His skeptical comments come days after JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said he didn't believe in the cryptocurrency, despite the bank's customers saying otherwise. At a recent Annual Members Meeting of the Institute of International Finance, the CEO of JP Morgan labeled Bitcoin as worthless, questioned its scarcity and suggested that its supply limit could be changed.
It's not the first time Dimon has been cynical about digital assets, having described Bitcoin as a scam in the past. Interestingly, he believes the value could increase tenfold over the next five years. He also specified during the members' meeting that his personal cynicism did not prevent the company from offering secure access to the asset if investors so wished.
“If they want access to buy bitcoins, we can't hold them, but we could give them as clean and legitimate access as possible, ” he said.
These critical remarks about Bitcoin have not gone down well with the crypto community, with several users pointing to the rally Bitcoin has seen over the years. Some even highlighted more than 400 “obituaries” of high-profile Bitcoins that were wrong. In turn, MicroStrategy's Michael Saylor believes Bitcoin's frustrations stem from a lack of understanding of the digital asset.
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