Asset management giant BlackRock expects traditional financial assets to shift toward a tokenized version of them over the next few decades, according to the company’s CEO, Larry Fink.
During an interview with CNBC’s Squawk on the Street on Tuesday, Fink said he views tokenizing all assets as the next major move for his company and a good opportunity to onboard more people.
“If we can tokenize an ETF, digitize that ETF, we can have investors who are just beginning to invest in markets through, let’s say, crypto, they’re investing in it, but now we can get them into the more traditional long-term retirement products,” he said.
“We look at that as the next wave of opportunity for BlackRock over the next tens of years, as we start moving away from traditional financial assets by repotting them in a digital manner and having people stay in that digital ecosystem.”
BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world, with $13.5 trillion in assets under management reported in its earnings report on Tuesday. The company holds $104 billion in crypto assets, representing approximately 1% of its overall portfolio.
Still early days for tokenization
At the same time, Fink told CNBC he thinks asset tokenization is still in its infancy, with more room to grow across a variety of sectors.
“I do believe we’re just at the beginning of the tokenization of all assets, from real estate to equities, to bonds. Across the board,” he said.
The asset tokenization market is worth over $2 trillion in 2025, according to market research company Mordor Intelligence, but it’s projected to grow significantly over the next few years and reach over $13 trillion by 2030.
Fink also announced, as part of the fund managers’ earnings call, that BlackRock plans to play a larger role in tokenization in the future, with teams across the company currently exploring options.
BlackRock already has the largest tokenized cash market fund, worth $2.8 billion, the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund, or BUIDL, launched in March 2024.
BlackRock’s Fink has changed his tune on crypto
Earlier this week, during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes, Fink also said he thinks crypto has a vital role to play in a diversified investor portfolio, similar to gold.
“There is a role for crypto in the same way there is a role for gold; it’s an alternative. For those looking to diversify, this is not a bad asset, but I don’t believe it should be a large part of your portfolio.”
He was once a huge crypto sceptic, calling it an index of money laundering in 2017 and doubling down in 2018 by stating that none of his clients wanted to invest in the market.
Fink said during his interview with CNBC that he was a critic in the past, but over time, his stance shifted because “I grow and learn.”