BlackRock’s Rick Rieder Says Bitcoin Could Largely Replace Gold
2 min readBlackRock CIO, Rick Rieder, appeared on CNBC’s Squawkbox on Friday and had some surprisingly positive things to say about Bitcoin.
Host Andrew Ross Sorkin spoke with Rieder on the battle of the hedges and their respective investment potentials.
Bitcoin has massively outpaced gold since the beginning of October and now trades at almost ten ounces of gold per one BTC.
"It's hard to say whether it's [#btc] worth the price it is trading at today. But do I think it is a durable mechanism that–do I think could replace gold to a large extent? Yeah I do, because it's so much more functional," says BlackRock's Rick Rieder. #bitcoin #cryptocurrency. pic.twitter.com/ipwr22xwZ1
— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) November 20, 2020
Sorkin jokingly quizzed Rick about whether or not he was bullish on the alpha crypto and if the government might try to regulate it given the current price rally.
Bitcoin “Here to Stay”
Rieder deflected the question, saying that he thinks Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are “here to stay.” He further pointed out that he doesn’t have much to do with bitcoin as far as his corporate portfolios go, perhaps alluding to a private holding.
The BlackRock bigwig is unsure if the current price tag (~$18,600) per coin is worth it or not and goes on to ask himself if he thinks that Bitcoin will take the place of Gold:
“Do I think it’s a durable mechanism that could take the place of gold to a large extent? Yeah I do because it’s so much more functional than passing a bar of gold around.”
Rieder seems to think so, echoing the long-held sentiments of many in the crypto community about an emerging digital gold standard.
Bitcoin rallied hard shortly after the interview, almost piercing the $19,000 handle. Whether or not the two events are correlated remains unclear, but a BlackRock endorsement seems to be adding fuel to the fire.
Bitcoin continues to trade near its all-time high set in 2017, albeit some $1,000 short of that historical figure.
What is Blackrock?
BlackRock is an American global investment management firm based out of New York City. Founded in 1988, the firm is the world’s largest asset manager, with $7.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM) as of the end of 2019.
BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink, said back in 2018 that the company is evaluating cryptocurrencies but cautioned that he does not see the demand yet.
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