BlackRock CEO Says the Company Won’t Launch a Crypto ETF Until the Industry Is Legitimate
A large number of cryptocurrency investors and enthusiasts have now pinned their hopes to the arrival of Bitcoin ETF. Experts believe that the arrival of this institutional-grade product will bring a huge inflow of money in the crypto market.
As big industry giants have been diligently working on it, asset management giant BlackRock says that plans of a cryptocurrency ETF are still far away unless and until the industry matures a bit. In his recent interview with CNBC, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said that his company won’t launch a Bitcoin ETF until the industry becomes “legitimate”.
"I wouldn't say never, when it's legitimate, yes,” said the BlackRock CEO. Fink further added: "It will ultimately have to be backed by a government. I don't sense that any government will allow that unless they have a sense of where that money's going for tax evasion and all of these other issues.”
The U.S. securities watchdog - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) - has repeatedly voiced its concerns with respect to the investors protection issues and risks. The regulator says that the products are still not ready to handle market manipulation.
On a similar note, Fink also expressed concerns regarding money laundering, tax evasion, and scams. He also said that completely anonymous, decentralized, and unregulated functioning of the crypto market is a matter of big concern as it fosters other illicit activities of drugs and guns trading across the globe. But Fink is also not entirely pessimistic about the future of digital currencies.
"I do see one day where we could have electronic trading for a currency that could be a store of wealth," Fink said. "But right now the world doesn't need a store of wealth unless you need that store of wealth for things you should not be doing."
On the contrary, Fink says that he is a big believer in the Bitcoin’s underpinning blockchain technology. "We are a huge believer in blockchain," Fink said. "The biggest use for blockchain will be in mortgages, mortgage applications, mortgage ownership, anything that's labored with paper.”
Fink is not the first one to have expressed confidence on the potential of the blockchain technology. A number of industry giants have praised blockchain for its ability to streamline several operations.
Recently, banking giant like HSBC, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas, and ten other joint hands to launch a blockchain-based trade finance platform to speed up the loan applications process. The use of blockchain in the trade finance industry which is highly paper-based will also help to reduce risks and frauds associated with the issuance of letters-of-credit (LoC).