Larry Fink’s Crypto Pivot: The BlackRock King Who Dared to Question the Dollar
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, once a proud Bitcoin skeptic, now warns the U.S. dollar could lose its global edge to digital assets like BTC.
On this page
- The Reluctant Revolutionary
- From Dismissal to Defense
- Public Skepticism and Mockery
- The Quiet Shift Behind the Scenes
- A Turning Point in Public Messaging
- The Year the Dam Broke
- A Bold Institutional Move
- A Flight to Safety
- A Personal Reassessment
- The ETF That Changed Everything
- Sounding the Alarm
- Not Just Bitcoin. Not Just Hope
- The Reluctant Prophet
BlackRock's annual shareholder letter appeared in April 2025 with a sentence that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Larry Fink, the CEO of the world’s biggest asset manager, said that Bitcoin could “eat away” at the U.S. dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency.
It might have sounded like just another crypto evangelist shouting from the sidelines, coming from anyone else. But from a man who has over $10 trillion in assets and has helped the U.S. government stabilize the economy twice, it was a thunderclap.
Related: BlackRock’s Larry Fink Compares Crypto Rise to the Mortgage Boom
The Reluctant Revolutionary
Blockchain was certainly not on the horizon when Fink began his professional life. He was born in 1952 in California to a middle-class Jewish family. His father owned a shoe store; his mother was an English professor. In 1976, he joined First Boston and quickly rose through the ranks. He was an early adopter of trading mortgage-backed securities, the complex instruments that would ultimately play a significant role in the global financial meltdown.
In 1988, he co-founded BlackRock. Over the next three decades, Fink turned it into the most powerful force in global finance, acting as a private arm of the U.S. Treasury during both the 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic. Fink was, and arguably remains, the epitome of the traditional financial establishment.
So when Fink speaks, people listen. Especially when the man who once dismissed Bitcoin begins to sound like its defender.
From Dismissal to Defense
Public Skepticism and Mockery
In October 2017, Fink told CNBC that Bitcoin was “an index of money laundering”. He compared the crypto hype to the Dutch tulip mania of the 17th century. That same year, the market crashed, a downturn that would later be known as the “Crypto Winter”.
In 2018, he reiterated that BlackRock’s clients had no interest in digital assets. By 2021, his stance had softened slightly. When asked on Bloomberg Live about Bitcoin’s potential, Fink offered a cautious tone:
We’re watching it; we’re enjoying the conversation. But it has not been proven yet
However, just months later in October, he clearly showed he hadn't changed his mind, echoing JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon's description of Bitcoin as “worthless”.
The Quiet Shift Behind the Scenes
But behind closed doors, BlackRock was already laying groundwork. In 2019, the firm hired Robbie Mitchnick, formerly of Ripple, to lead its digital assets strategy. By 2020, Fink’s tone began to shift. In a December event, he warned that Bitcoin might make the U.S. dollar “less relevant”.
A Turning Point in Public Messaging
Still, it wasn’t until 2023 that Fink stepped fully into the light.
The Year the Dam Broke
A Bold Institutional Move
In June 2023, BlackRock filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF — a move that would shake the crypto world. On Fox Business, Fink spoke of “democratizing” crypto and predicted that digital assets could “outshine global currencies”.
A Flight to Safety
By October, amid rising geopolitical tensions, he described a surge in Bitcoin interest as “a flight to quality”.
I changed my mind about it. I was a proud skeptic. My opinion five years ago was wrong,
he later admitted
A Personal Reassessment
That statement came in a candid interview during the summer of 2024, where Fink gave his most personal reflection yet on Bitcoin:
Bitcoin is a legitimate financial instrument… a non-correlated asset you invest in when you’re frightened. When you believe countries are debasing their currencies, when you're afraid of your everyday existence — Bitcoin gives you more control
He called it “digital gold” and predicted it would soon be treated as a mainstream asset class.
The ETF That Changed Everything
In January 2024, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) finally launched. By November, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs had broken the $100 billion mark in net assets. IBIT alone managed around $50 billion, making it one of the fastest-growing ETFs in history.
Fink, once seen as a symbol of traditional finance, was now a central player in Bitcoin’s march toward legitimacy. The irony wasn’t lost on the crypto faithful. Once mocked by maximalists like Peter Thiel, who called Fink an “enemy of Bitcoin” in 2022, he now stood on the same side of the digital fence.
Sounding the Alarm
But the most shocking turn came in March 2025, when Fink issued a stark warning.
If the U.S. doesn’t get its debt under control. America risks losing that position [as reserve currency] to digital assets like Bitcoin,
he wrote in his annual letter.
He pointed to the $952 billion in interest payments the U.S. made that year — a symptom of a national debt that had surged past $35 trillion. He described a future in which “mandatory government spending and debt service will consume all federal revenue” by 2030, creating a permanent deficit.
It wasn’t just an economic forecast. It was a challenge to the dollar itself — and to the system Fink helped build.
Not Just Bitcoin. Not Just Hope
Fink remains a pragmatist.
Bitcoin is not an instrument of hope. Unless you’re hopeful you’ll make a lot of money,
he said in 2024.
He doesn’t romanticize crypto. He doesn’t speak in memes or wear laser eyes.
But that may be exactly why his pivot matters.
When Elon Musk rails against fiat money, it’s easy to dismiss as tech-billionaire theatrics. But when the man who manages $10 trillion starts to describe Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar, people listen differently.
Fink doesn’t call for revolution. He calls for hedging.
The Reluctant Prophet
There’s a strange poetry in watching Larry Fink step into the role of Bitcoin’s institutional evangelist. A man who once stood at the center of the old world now helps usher in the new. He still wears the suit. Still pens the letters. Still sits on the board of the World Economic Forum.
But today, those letters carry warnings—printed in black ink on BlackRock letterhead—about a future that may no longer belong to the dollar.
He may never say he loves Bitcoin.
But he no longer has to.
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