BlackRock CEO Fink supports Ethereum ETF | CoinDesk JAPAN

Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset management company, endorsed the idea of ​​an Ethereum ETF on the 12th, a day after the launch of the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF (Exchange Traded Fund).

“We think there’s value in having an Ethereum ETF,” Fink said in an interview with CNBC. “These are just stepping stones towards tokenization, and we truly believe this is where we need to go. “I’m working on it,” he said.

BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) joins more than a dozen other similar ETFs after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a Bitcoin spot ETF on Tuesday. It was released in the United States on the 11th at the same time as the product. IBIT accounted for approximately $1 billion of the total trading volume of all ETFs of $4.6 billion (approximately 667 billion yen, converted at 145 yen to the dollar).

BlackRock may now be looking to list an Ethereum physical ETF, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, as part of its path toward tokenization.

Tokenization is a term that refers to representing assets (physical or digital) in the form of tokens on a blockchain. Fink believes that tokenization can eliminate money laundering and other corruption-related issues.

Fink also said that he views crypto assets as an asset class rather than a currency, calling Bitcoin in particular an “asset class that protects us” from fear of geopolitical risks. “It’s no different from what gold has represented for thousands of years,” he said. “Unlike gold, Bitcoin is almost at its maximum capacity.”

｜Translation and editing: Rinan Hayashi
｜Image: Will Ess for Pixelmind.ai/CoinDesk
｜Original text: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Backs Ether ETF