Bitcoin, the price of which fluctuates significantly in November, remains a "speculative" investment, which is prospering due to the anonymity of the cryptocurrency, said on Monday the head of BlackRock Inc, Larry Fink.
Speaking at the ReutersGlobal 2018 Investment Outlook Summit, Fink said: “Bitcoin receives too much attention.”
“I don't know why it has so much fascination for the press,” added he.
BlackRock is the world’s largest assets management company, which manages about $6 trillion in assets.
The cost of bitcoin fell by 29% from the historical maximum reached on November 8 at $7.888 after the cancellation of the SegWit2x hard fork – an updating protocol of the cryptocurrency. In addition, there was continuing fears about the formation of a bubble. On Monday, Bitcoin recovered some of the losses.
Nevertheless, despite the recent drop, since the beginning of 2017, the cost of Bitcoin has increased six-fold. Investors who kept their cryptocurrency for a long time won even more. For example, in 2011, the Bitcoin rate was below $3. It means that a $100 investment would have brought over $200,000 in net profits.
However, according to Fink, most long-term investors should focus on traditional assets, such as stocks and bonds.
Fink said that for a 30-year-old man, it is almost certain that shares are the right investment strategy, especially when world economies demonstrate "synchronous growth" for the first time since the financial crisis.
Bitcoin “is tiny in the scheme of financial markets,” Fink said. “This is a very speculative tool.”
Earlier, Larry Fink told CNBC that Bitcoin was an instrument for money laundering.
“Bitcoin just shows you how much demand for money laundering there is in the world – that's all it is,” said he.
Fink is not the only one who went critical of Bitcoin. Other Wall Street VIPs, such as Jamie Dimon, also showed skepticism, saying that Bitcoin was a fraud.