The intriguing for many financial phenomenon called Bitcoin has been the topic for many discussions in the financial field and one of the latest statements regarding the cryptocurrency came recently from the Chief Executive of BlackRock Inc., Larry Fink. He stated that what makes this innovative blockchain technology so successful at the moment is the fact that it remains anonymous and gives its participants the opportunity to keep their identities relatively obscured.
Mr. Fink gave a speech during the Reuters Global Investment 2018 Outlook Summit which took place in New York City earlier this month. In it, he stated that what makes it the hot topic at the moment is the fact that it is a cross-border system which has given birth to various spin-off businesses in its development. His overall tone was one of irritation because the virtual currency market is being constantly discussed by people in the financial field. One of the latest news with which Bitcoin became even more popular is the fact that its value fluctuated notably in the last several weeks and experts have been forecasting even higher prices in the foreseeable future.
Dynamic Development of Bitcoin in the Future
Bitcoin’s value plunged 29 percent since its record $7,888 on 8th November after a planned technology upgrade was canceled and people with vast knowledge of the matter have reported possible bubble in the next months. In the light of those recent events, Mr. Fink said that people interested in investing in long-term reliable assets should rather give their attention to a more traditional type of investment, such as stocks and bonds. According to him at this very moment economies around the world go through synchronized growth which happens for the first time since the financial crisis in 2008.
The Chief Executive stated that the digital currency has a rather speculative nature and the anonymity which comes with it is what drives it forward. He also questioned the attitude of the buyers and sellers, prompting the inquiry whether many of them will feel safe to use Bitcoin if they had to reveal their identity of purchasers. Another position he expressed was that it is not a secret to anyone that cryptocurrency is often used in schemes for money laundering and only those who participate in purchasing of tokens might have some idea who their counterparts might be.
BlackRock is an asset manager which provides guidance for individuals, financial professionals, and institutions. At the moment it oversees about $6 trillion worth of assets and it manages a so-called shadow bank, which operates outside traditional depository banking. BlackRock used to be part of Blackstone’s credit group and the latter helped David Baazov, the then-Chief Executive Officer of Amaya, recently re-branded as The Stars Group, to purchase PokerStars. With the help of the credit division of the private equity firm, he managed to gather $4.9 billion in order to acquire the online poker brand known around the world.
