BlackRock, an institution asset manager with indirect exposure to Bitcoin ( BTC), has seen a significant decline in investor demand.
Larry Fink , the CEO of BlackRock, declared Wednesday in CNBC’s Squawk Box. He stated that BlackRock has seen fewer crypto-related inquiries from investors lately, which indicates a huge drop in crypto demand.
Fink stated that crypto is less attractive to long-term and retirement investors.
“In the past you have asked me questions about crypto and bitcoin, again. In the last two weeks of business travel, I have not been asked one question about this. This is not the main focus for long-term investors and retirement. We don’t see much investor demand.”
Fink’s comments come amid sideways trading on cryptocurrency markets. Bitcoin has dropped over 16% in the last 30 days. Bitcoin trades at $32,572 as of the writing. This is slightly higher than the 0.3% increase over the last 24 hours. The most valuable cryptocurrency has lost nearly half its value since BTC reached its record high in mid April. soared above $64,000.
BlackRock’s friendly attitude towards Bitcoin is well-known. The company acquired indirect exposure to Bitcoin via its ownership stake at MicroStrategy, a business intelligence firm. In 2020, the firm invested $425 million in BTC and continued to buy more Bitcoin.
BlackRock’s CEO has previously made positive comments about Bitcoin. Fink stated last December that Bitcoin could become a global market, despite it still being widely untested.
BlackRock CEO claims that there has been a decline in Bitcoin demand from long term investors. However, institutional interest in crypto seems to be growing despite this. Bank of America, America’s second largest bank, set up a crypto research group last week in response to the growing interest in digital assets by institutional investors.
