Is BlackRock, World’s Largest Asset Manager Eyeing Bitcoin [BTC]?

Today was an interesting day for Bitcoin enthusiasts as CIO of world’s largest asset manager BlackRock in an interview to CNBC said he adores Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay. Recently, Bitcoin managed to move above the $18,000 mark again after seeing a $1000 flash crash yesterday making its contention to be a true store-of-value asset. Be it SoftBank or the CitiBank or JP Morgan all believe Bitcoin is currently undervalued and has the potential to become the digital gold. As per wikipedia, BlackRock is world’s largest asset management firm with $7.3 Trillion assets under management.

“Bitcoin More Functional Than Gold”- BlackRock CIO

Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s CIO for Fixed Income on Friday during an interview with CNBC suggested that the momentum is moving away from golf and towards bitcoin. He explained that Bitcoin is more flexible and useful as a store-of-value and has the potential to outclass gold as a true store-of-value asset.

He said,

“I think Bitcoin is here to stay and even though I don’t have it in my portfolio…..  but do I think it’s a durable mechanism that would take the place of Gold in the future?….Then yes I believe it has the technological superiority to replace gold in coming days.”

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, bitcoin’s price fell along with the traditional stock market, while gold touched new ATH furthering its claim to be a hedge against financially troubled times. However, since then gold has seen a continuous slump in its price while BTC managed to set a three-year high price record only yesterday.

The growing number of institutional interests along with mainstream financial firms openly endorsing bitcoin is a clear sign that the world is ready for bitcoin and unlike 2017 the price rise won’t be speculative.