BlackRock CIO states “Bitcoin will take the place of glod to a large extent”. Bitcoin (BTC) has become a constant presence of the global financial system, a senior executive at BlockRock, the world’s largest asset manager, acknowledges, giving yet another concrete indication that the narrative around digital currency has shifted.
Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s CIO of Fixed Income, told CNBC on Friday that, “Bitcoin is here to stay.” While conceding that he is not a Bitcoin bull, Rieder said the flagship currency “will take the place of gold to a large extent [because] it is so more functional than passing a bar of gold around.”
Bitcoin is sometimes referred to as “digital gold” for its unique store-of-value characteristics. Bitcoin’s most ardent proponents believe that it will eventually take a sizable portion of gold’s market cap as more investors realize its utility.
2020 could go down as the year that major Bitcoin narratives changed, especially among institutional investors who have long been skeptical about digital currencies. Investors like Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller have thrown their weight behind Bitcoin, while major banks like Citigroup and JPMorgan have issued positive guidance on the flagship cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, Blackrock, has indirect exposure to Bitcoin through its ownership stake in MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm that converted most of its cash reserves into BTC earlier this year.
