At least two things; they hold important positions within the global financial system and they are positive about the potential of cryptocurrencies and/or Bitcoin (BITCOMP). These are landmark statements. So far most of the support for cryptocurrencies had to come from people with a good understanding of tech. Like Bill Gates or Peter Thiel. Now, within the timespan of a week, there are positive comments from three people with leadership positions in finance.
Source: IMF
Larry Fink on Bitcoin
Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock (BLK) told Bloomberg TV he A) believes in blockchain and B) is a big believer in the potential of what a cryptocurrency can do.
He also added what we are seeing today is a lot of speculation and cryptocurrencies bring to light how much money laundering is being done in the world. How much people are moving currencies from one place to another. He also sees a potential for cryptocurrencies to solve that problem:
“If we create a true global digitized currency then you would not have money laundering anymore,” he said. In that case, there are concerns about protecting the system from cyber problems, he said.
Finally, he said they are not hearing about any demand from clients. Except for venture capital type investments. Well, since Blackrock owns iShares, I’ll say I believe there is a lot of demand for an iShares Bitcoin product. If they could roll it out as a first to market ETF it would be a runaway success.
Lloyd Blankfein on Bitcoin
Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was the most measured of the bunch and simply tweeted.
It doesn’t read all that positive but because of the comparison to paper money (which has been quite a big success) and the reporting by the WSJ Goldman is working on a Bitcoin project with both the currency-trading division and the bank’s strategic investment group I think it can be interpreted as quite positive. A stark contrast to JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon who called it a fraud not long ago.
