BlackRock CIO Gives Thumbs up to Investment in BTC

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has continued to attract investors from every side. Recently, it has caught the attention of the worlds largest asset management company, BlackRock.

Bitcoin Investment is Top-Notch

Rick Reider, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) says that many people now believe that cryptocurrencies should be included in their portfolios.  Speaking to CNBC, he said that an investment in Bitcoin “makes a lot of sense.” Concerning his firm’s position on Bitcoin, he revealed that BlackRock has started “dabbling” into it. The CIO did not give any further details on possible company crypto investments.

“Some people are holding Bitcoin as a store of value and diversifying their portfolio, he says. Bitcoin has grown from a speculative asset to one which people hold for investment purposes. Reider goes on to say that institutional investors now keep more cash because of low interest rates. 

“Institutions are holding a lot of cash, compared to what they were holding before pandemic.” He explained that such cash would be be better if it was used in “diversifying investment in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets.” Some investors have already started showing interest and have bought Bitcoin, which seems to be pushing it’s price up, the CIO explained.

BlackRock Shows More Interest in Crypto

In December 2020, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said that Bitcoin has the ability to become a global asset. Fink, a former Bitcoin critic, hinted that more people could adopt crypto: institutions and people alike.

BlackRock is the biggest asset management company globally, and is currently managing $8 trillion worth of assets.  The company seems to be going more towards crypto, as it advertised for a crypto specialist in December. The position, VP Blockchain Lead, required someone who could cope with the clients increased demand for cryptocurrency.

The demand for cryptocurrency is going higher everyday, as the king of crypto set a new ATH of $52,000 yesterday. Shortly after Tesla’s $1.5 billion buy, the coin has continued to soar, and now has a market cap of around $972 billion.