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⛓️ BlackRock CEO: Bitcoin is an "asset of fear"

But, what does it mean?

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Cryptopolitan News
December 04, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

The CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, has found a new name for Bitcoin. Speaking at the NYT DealBook Summit, he referred to it as an “asset of fear” and said the market’s recent behaviour were exactly in line with the pattern.

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When you are frightened of your physical or financial security, you own Bitcoin

Larry Fink

📉 What Fink sees in this drop

The current 20 to 25 percent drawdown is the third dip of that sort since IBIT’s launch, Fink says. Translation: this is normal.

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If you bought it for a trade, you need perfect timing. Most people don’t have that

He said, warning that leverage still controls near-term volatility

And remember, the words are coming from the man who famously referred to Bitcoin an index for money laundering.

Now his iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT):

  • Is one of the largest bitcoin ETFs in the United States

  • Fastest: From $0 to +$70B 

  • Has seen more volume, flows and market share leadership

Crypto is no longer being whispered about on Wall Street. It wants to be part of the story. But Bitcoin is not the only thing BlackRock is betting on.

Tokenization: The real game changer

The real revolution, Fink said, is not simply Bitcoin but tokenization across all assets.

  • He described a future where:

  • every security is digital

  • settlement is instant

  • legacy rails like SWIFT are second layer, not the base

Brian Armstrong was added as a speaker, and commented that BTC won't be going to zero anytime soon, plus he encouraged the US to pass finishing of the CLARITY Act certified.

And for the two chief executives agreed about the future of crypto was perhaps even larger.

In a nutshell: What is an “Asset of Fear”?

Fink’s point:

People buy Bitcoin when they distrust traditional systems: banks, governments, national currencies and geopolitics.

Which essentially is one of the main reasons Bitcoin was brought into existence by Satoshi.

Fear drives adoption. Not speculation.

📊 Market Watch

1️⃣ SEC shuts the door on 3x–5x ETFs

The SEC just dashed ultra-leveraged ETF dreams, telling issuers they can’t evade the 200% federal VaR limit. Direxion’s 3x and 5x filings sparked an “Opposition to the Rule,” regulators invoking Rule 18f-4, and informing issuers they should “revise or withdraw.”

Since the shutdown began, ETF issuers have been jamming Washington with 3x/5x filings hoping one would slip through a crack.

2️⃣ Coinbase + big banks quietly begin crypto pilots

JPMorgan, Citi, and Bank of America have started conducting live pilots with stablecoins, custody solutions and even trading crypto, Brian Armstrong said.

This as Washington pushes crypto policy into overdrive under Trump’s second term and following Congress passing the first federal stablecoin framework. The banks now regard crypto as a core business line, not a hobby, Armstrong says.

The pilots landed during a somewhat shaky market month, but both Armstrong and Fink say tokenization and Bitcoin are long-term inevitabilities.

3️⃣ Silver is outpacing gold

This year, silver has doubled besting even gold’s gigantic 60% gain, on electric vehicles, solar, electronics and collapsing supply. Inventories are near empty. Mining output isn’t catching up.

And unlike gold, there is no central-bank backstop for silver that can step-in to lend metal into the market during a crunch.

Retail loves it because it’s cheaper per ounce, but the pros are nervous…..

 📈 Chart our Analyst is watching

Franklin Templeton just secured NYSE Arca approval for its Solana ETF (SOEZ) and the market reaction was instant. SOL jumped 17% on the news.

SOEZ tracks the CF Benchmarks Solana Index and uses a grantor trust structure that holds SOL + cash while staking up to 100% of its tokens (net of fees).

Coinbase Custody holds the SOL, while BNY Mellon manages cash + admin: a full TradFi-grade setup.

 🐤 Top tweets

🎭 Culture Watch

Michael Burry is back. Doubling down on his long-running war against Bitcoin.

In a new podcast with The Big Short author Michael Lewis, Burry said Bitcoin is “not worth anything” and compared its six-figure price swings to tulip mania on steroids.

What bothers him most: how casually markets now talk about BTC moving from $100K to $98K, as if those numbers reflect real value.

🗳️ Poll: Where do you stand on Burry’s take?

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