BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the strong retail interest in the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) spot bitcoin ETF. During an interview with Fox Business, he expressed optimism about the growth of the first cryptocurrency.
Launched in January 2024, IBIT is poised to surpass Grayscale's GBTC to become the fastest-growing ETF in financial history, Fink said.
Note that YouTube blogger George Tung shares the same opinion. He estimates that if the current pace continues, IBIT will become the largest spot Bitcoin ETF within three weeks.
According to the latest data, BlackRock's IBIT has accumulated more than $16 billion in assets and accounts for over 40% of daily trading volumes among all Bitcoin-based cryptocurrency ETFs.
Speaking with Charles Gasparino and Liz Claman of Fox Business, Larry Fink said:
“Before submitting the application, we could not have predicted that we would see such demand. I was surprised by how much Bitcoin has risen. We are now creating a market that has more liquidity and transparency.”
Larry Fink recalled that BlackRock filed an application to launch a spot Ethereum-ETF with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the regulator postponed the decision date. According to the CEO of BlackRock, even the recognition of Ethereum as a security will not be an obstacle to the launch of an investment product.
In his statement, the expert noted that most companies are showing positive dynamics. Despite the opinions of skeptics, the cryptocurrency market is not in a bubble, Fink added.
It should be noted that BlackRock recently launched a tokenized investment fund on the Ethereum blockchain worth $10 trillion. It has raised about $240 million since its launch, according to Bloomberg.
