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Larry Fink & Bitcoin: A Sharper Focus and New Concerns
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink doubled down on the spotlight on Bitcoin this year in the bank’s 2025 investor letter, a stark contrast to the asset’s solitary appearance in last year’s correspondence. While the March 2024 mention occurred in the context of the firm’s Bitcoin ETF launch (IBIT), this year’s letter prominently referenced “bitcoin” seven times.
Fink lauded IBIT’s significant success, noting it has attracted $40 billion in net inflows to date, with a majority stemming from retail investors. Notably, three-quarters of these investors had no prior experience with iShares products.
However, Fink also introduced a direct threat to the dollar’s dominance. He suggested the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency is not guaranteed, stating, “If the US doesn’t get its debt under control, if deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like bitcoin.”
The CEO acknowledged that “Decentralized finance [DeFi] is an extraordinary innovation,” but cautioned against its potential to erode America’s economic edge. He suggested investors might view Bitcoin as a safer option than the dollar, potentially undermining the U.S.’s advantage. Fink emphasized he is “obviously not anti-digital assets,” referencing BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund exceeding $1 billion in assets under management and expressing belief that tokenizing stocks, bonds, and funds could “revolutionize” investing by making markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent.
Fink argued that tokenization could drastically reduce settlement times, releasing capital quickly back into the economy, but stressed solving for digital verification is crucial. While hinting at these developments, his presentation of Bitcoin primarily served as a cautionary tale about the dollar, alongside tokenization as a future growth area.
Illustration: Unsplash
