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BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink has publicly reversed his once-critical stance on Bitcoin, now recognizing it as a “legitimate alternative asset” with investment value. This move comes as his firm’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has grown to become the world’s largest cryptocurrency ETF.
JUST IN: $12 trillion BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says, “There is a role for crypto the same way there is a role for gold.”
“This is not a bad asset.” pic.twitter.com/PeTORJ3PHB
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) October 13, 2025
From Skeptic to Advocate: A Public Reversal
During a recent CBS interview, Fink directly addressed his controversial 2017 remarks, where he labeled Bitcoin an “index of money laundering.” He stated that the market has taught him to reassess his assumptions.
“Look, I’ve said years ago that it was a mechanism for money laundering and people who were thieves. But the market teaches you, and you have to be thoughtful about re-evaluating,” Fink explained. “I see it as an alternative, like gold. It’s an alternative asset.”
While endorsing its role in portfolio diversification, Fink also cautioned investors, noting that cryptocurrencies are an option “but you shouldn’t be totally absorbed by it.”
BlackRock’s Strategic Pivot and Bitcoin ETF Dominance
Fink’s changing rhetoric aligns with BlackRock’s decisive entry into the digital asset space. As the world’s largest asset manager, overseeing approximately $12.5 trillion in assets, its actions carry immense weight.
A key milestone was the SEC’s approval of the first U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs in 2024. BlackRock’s entry, the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), has since skyrocketed to become the dominant player in the category, with assets under management soaring past $93.9 billion.
This strategic pivot marks a departure from the earlier sentiment shared by other Wall Street titans. In 2017, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon famously called Bitcoin a “fraud” and compared it to the 17th-century Dutch tulip bubble.
Since 2023, however, Fink has adopted a more measured tone, acknowledging the growing institutional demand. The success of IBIT has proven this demand is substantial. Notably, Fink revealed earlier that about half of the demand for its Bitcoin ETF came from retail investors, with three-quarters of those being entirely new to any iShares product, demonstrating Bitcoin’s power to attract a new generation of investors to the firm.
