BlackRock CEO: tokenization is the next wave for investing
Larry Fink says we’re at the start of tokenizing mainstream assets – real estate, equities, bonds – and even ETFs. The idea: meet crypto‑native users in a digital wallet, then route them into long‑term products. He calls it a “new wave of opportunity” for BlackRock.
Speaking on CNBC, BlackRock’s chairman and CEO frames “digital” as distribution. Tokenize assets and wrappers like ETFs, he says, and you can serve investors who began in crypto but want long‑term portfolios. “Tokenize an ETF, digitize that ETF – we could move new investors into long‑term products,” he says. One proof‑point he offers is scale: the firm’s spot‑Bitcoin ETF IBIT is now over $100 billion, up from zero two years ago – evidence, in his words, that the audience is there.
Fink also points to cash as part of the same loop. Keep cash and investments in a single digital ecosystem, and users don’t have to hop across systems. He mentions a tokenized money‑market fund (BUIDL) as an example, alongside the firm’s crypto platform and private‑markets technology, arguing that the pieces now exist to stitch traditional finance and on‑chain rails. “We’re the firm more people are going worldwide – with passive, active, publics, privates, and now digital,” he says.
In practice, tokenization means issuing a compliant digital representation of a traditional instrument that settles and transfers on modern rails. For ETFs, the pitch is simple: familiar regulation and disclosures, new plumbing for access. For users who started with crypto, the path into retirement‑grade products becomes shorter.
The CEO stresses time horizon over market‑timing. He cites long‑run returns for staying invested through crises and urges younger investors to turn trading accounts into ownership accounts. The tokenization push – bringing ETFs and funds into a wallet‑native form – is his way of shrinking frictions that keep newcomers out of compounding‑friendly products.
For crypto readers, the signal is clear: the world’s largest asset manager wants to use on‑chain wrappers not only for Bitcoin but for mainstream instruments. That can widen liquidity, lower onboarding friction and align wallets with regulated assets – provided the legal plumbing and transfer restrictions are handled cleanly.
A fair caveat: execution depends on rulebooks and partners. Tokenized ETFs and funds still need transfer agents, KYC/AML, and clarity on secondary trading venues. Wallet UX must balance self‑custody with recoverability. None of this is overnight work; Fink talks in decades, not quarters.
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