BlackRock Has 'Responsibility To Democratize Investing', Including in Crypto, Larry Fink Says (cnbc.com) 22
BlackRock's move into crypto fits into the asset management giant's broader mission of creating products that are easy to use and cheap for investors, CEO Larry Fink said Friday. From a report: "We believe we have a responsibility to democratize investing. We've done a great job, and the role of ETFs in the world is transforming investing. And we're only at the beginning of that," Fink said. BlackRock applied for a spot bitcoin ETF on June 15, which appeared to spur a rally in cryptocurrencies and a flurry of similar filings from other asset managers. The initial filing for the iShares Bitcoin Trust did not include a management fee.
[...] Fink had previously been critical of crypto, saying in 2017 that the popularity of digital currencies was do in large part to money laundering. However, interest from clients and the high cost of transactions motivated BlackRock to take a closer look at entering the space, Fink said. He also added that crypto can serve a diversification role in investor portfolios. "It has a differentiating value versus other asset classes, but more importantly, because it's so international it's going to transcend any one currency," Fink said.
[...] Fink had previously been critical of crypto, saying in 2017 that the popularity of digital currencies was do in large part to money laundering. However, interest from clients and the high cost of transactions motivated BlackRock to take a closer look at entering the space, Fink said. He also added that crypto can serve a diversification role in investor portfolios. "It has a differentiating value versus other asset classes, but more importantly, because it's so international it's going to transcend any one currency," Fink said.
Nice Bait (Score:2)
Re: Nice Bait (Score:1)
If you want to persuade people to your position, argue your case with relevant facts, reasoning, and sources that do the same. Rage-bait is easy; credible good-faith attempts to find/convey the truth are rare.
Casino Looking for More Customers (Score:5, Informative)
"We believe we have a responsibility to democratize investing gambling. We've done a great job..."
It's just one of the many ways grifts and regulation evasion rears its head in the world of vocabulary:
Carshare: Short-term car rental
Bikeshare: Short-term bike rental
Rideshare: Originally meant carpool, vanpool, and transit... perverted to now mean "taxi" which is exactly the opposite of the intent of the word
Homestay: Hotel
Democratized Investing: Attracting dumber and dumber people to give us their money now and be too late to withdraw funds when everything hits the fan
Re: Casino Looking for More Customers (Score:2)
Why wouldn't the Fed bail them out at zero taxpayer cost?
Re: (Score:1)
"Reponsibility" (Score:4, Insightful)
"We believe we have a responsibility to democratize investing"
Yeah, "responsibility" - read: we're going to scam people out of their money, and when we get caught, we'll deflect and and all responsibility from those actions.
Re:"Reponsibility" (Score:4, Insightful)
Fink had previously been critical of crypto, saying in 2017 that the popularity of digital currencies was [due] in large part to money laundering. However, interest from clients and the high cost of transactions motivated BlackRock to take a closer look at entering the space
I read that to say: "We know it's a scam but lots of idiots seem to be falling for it so we might as well get a piece of that action".
Re: (Score:3)
....we're going to scam people out of their money, and when we get caught, we'll deflect and and all responsibility from those actions.....
They'll find a corrupt judge somewhere who'll forbid class action, and they know small-time investors lack the means to sue them on their own. Crypto ETFs are unregistered securities and should be illegal imho., or only sold to people with the explicit understanding that it's not investing but gambling and the odds are unknown.
Re: (Score:2)
Jack Bogle, creator of the traditional Index Fund (Score:2)
On ETFs [youtube.com]
Larry Fink [merriam-webster.com] lives up to his name. Fucking scum. Blackrock has most people's retirement money too, sleep tight America.
Fink! (Score:2)
Fink?
"Democratize investing"? (Score:2)
In other words, VC get replaced with lobbyists and media tells us what to get worked up over so we have an emotional investment in something that (at best) won't affect us at all or (at worst) is against our interest, but has some relevance to someone who has a lot of money riding on it?
If other investors jump off a cliff (Score:2)
I think those who interpret his statement as "we should rip off the people who are eager to be ripped off" understand Fink correctly.
They damn well ought to be in it. (Score:2)
There are plenty of fish in this barrel. It would be negligent of them not to put a hook in it.
I've read that before (Score:2)
Nobody is listening and nobody cares, but my small-potatoes investment money is NOT going into any organization that hawks crypto. Not for the immediate future, not for the medium-term future, and probably never.
a corporate owned currency (Score:2)
A corporate owned trading currency, not tied to any country and not taxed by any country.
The biggest investment conglomerate in the world, a law unto themselves.
This is the end game of corporate control of the world.
Bastion of democracy (Score:3)
Yes, very responsible.
democratize (Score:2)
Democratize = find more people from whom to skim their profits.
Democratize = make investing hew to Democratic Party objectives.