BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Warns the US Risks Losing Its Status as the World's Reserve Currency to Bitcoin

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has issued a stark warning that if the US doesn't control its $36 trillion debt and deficits keep rising, it risks losing its status as the world's reserve currency

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has issued a stark warning that the US risks losing its status as the world’s reserve currency to digital assets such as Bitcoin if it doesn’t get its $36 trillion debt under control and keeps seeing deficits rise.

For decades now, the US has benefitted from its dollar serving as the world’s reserve currency, but Fink says there’s no guarantee that it will last forever.

In his annual letter to investors, Fink writes, “If the U.S. doesn’t get its debt under control, if the deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position [world’s reserve currency] to digital assets like bitcoin.”

If the U.S. doesn't get its debt under control, if the deficits keep ballooning, America risks losing that position to digital assets like bitcoin.

If the situation isn't rectified by 2030, mandatory government spending and debt service will exceed all federal revenue, creating a permanent deficit, Fink said.

On the topic of crypto, the BlackRock CEO stated, “I’m obviously not anti-digital assets, but two things can be true at the same time: Decentralized finance is an extraordinary innovation. It makes markets faster, cheaper, and more transparent. Yet that same innovation could undermine America’s economic advantage if investors begin seeing Bitcoin as a safer bet than the dollar.”

This statement from the CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, with over $11 trillion in assets under management, should make even the biggest Bitcoin bears take note. The fact that someone of Fink’s status believes Bitcoin threatens the dollar if the US can’t get a grip on its debt is a serious endorsement.

BlackRock CEO Reflects On The Launch Of Its Bitcoin ETF

(COINGLASS)

Later, in his letter to investors, Fink celebrated that its US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, IBIT, was the largest ETF launch in history. In less than a year, it has grown to over $50 billion of assets under management.

Per Coinglass, net inflows for IBIT in 2024 hit $37.4 billion, with over $40 billion in total since it launched. BlackRock is dominating the Bitcoin ETF space and holds over three times the inflows of its closest rival. Fidelity’s FBTC fund is the second largest Bitcoin ETF, with $11.5 billion worth of net inflows.

Fink also noted that IBIT was the third-highest asset gatherer in the ETF industry, behind only S&P 500 index funds. More than half of its demand has come from retail investors, while 75% has come from those who had never owned an iShares product before. BlackRock has since expanded its Bitcoin offering to exchange-traded products in Canada and Europe.

Earlier this year, Fink suggested that if everyone “adopted” the conversation of allocating, for example, 2% to 5% of their assets to Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency’s price may someday reach as high as $700,000.

Fink Bullish On Real-World Assets (RWA): 'If TradFi Markets Are Tokenized, It Will Revolutionize Investing'

Beyond just Bitcoin, Fink spoke highly of the emerging RWA space. He said that tokenization could allow financial markets to move away from their old-school roots, which only hamper them.

Fink speaks on how the traditional finance markets were developed when trading floors still shouted orders and fax machines were the cutting-edge technology. Via Blockchain technology, the BlackRock CEO would like to see the turning of real-world assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate into digital tokens tradable online, 24/7.

He suggested that tokenization is akin to moving from postal services to email for investing. It enables assets to move directly and instantly, sidestepping intermediaries. “Every stock, every bond, every fund, every asset, can be tokenized,” Fink said.

The letter from Fink finished with, “If they are, it will revolutionize investing. Markets wouldn’t need to close. Transactions that currently take days would clear in seconds. And billions of dollars currently immobilized by settlement delays could be reinvested immediately back into the economy, generating more growth.”