Rick Rieder predicted that Bitcoin will „largely take the place of gold“ as it is much easier to store and transfer
An executive at BlockRock, the world’s largest investment firm, has admitted that Bitcoin (BTC) has become a recognised asset in the global financial system, further proof that general opinion on cryptocurrency is changing rapidly.
Rick Rieder, CIO of Fixed Income at BlackRock, told CNBC on Friday that „Bitcoin is here to stay. While admitting he is not a big fan of cryptocurrency, Rieder said that BTC „will largely take the place of gold [because] moving Bitcoin is much more practical than moving gold bars around.
For years now, Bitcoin has been referred to as „digital gold“ because of its unique characteristics that make it an excellent store of value: according to several experts, in the future, cryptocurrency will subtract a significant portion of the gold market cap.
Valued in gold, currently 1 BTC is equivalent to 9.96 ounces.
Bitcoin valued in gold
Bitcoin rated in gold. Source: buybitcoinworldwide.com
2020 could go down in history as the year when the narrative on Bitcoin changed, especially among long-time sceptical institutional investors about digital currencies. Investors such as Paul Tudor Jones and Stanley Druckenmiller have publicly expressed support for BTC, while banking institutions such as Citigroup and JPMorgan have released positive predictions about cryptocurrency.
From a business perspective, corporations are estimated to hold 4.54% of Bitcoin’s total offering, equivalent to current prices of $15.3 billion.
BlackRock itself enjoys indirect exposure to Bitcoin through its stake in MicroStrategy, a business intelligence company that converted most of its cash reserves into BTC earlier this year.