BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: Crypto, Gold Are ‘Assets of Fear’ Amid Debt Concerns

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink has declared that investors are rushing into crypto and precious metals such as gold as “assets of fear,” driven by mounting concerns over spiraling government debt worldwide.

“Owning crypto assets or gold are assets of fear,” Fink said during his appearance at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, according to a Bloomberg report. “You own these assets because you’re frightened of the debasement of your assets. You’re worried about your financial security. You’re worried about your physical security.”

“The renewed focus on the so‑called ‘debasement trade’—where investors move away from fiat currencies into hard assets—is rooted in a clear trend: purchasing power is weakening in light of both fiscal and monetary policy leeway, especially on the U.S. dollar side,” Fabian Dori, Chief Investment Officer at Sygnum Bank, told Decrypt.

“There are good reasons why private investors, banks, and institutions may start to hedge using Bitcoin,” he added, while warning that 24/7 volatility demands new risk systems and round-the-clock liquidity management.

The concerns come as the U.S. government’s debt burden is projected to exceed levels in both Italy and Greece for the first time this century.

General government gross debt in the U.S. will surge by more than 20 percentage points to reach 143.4% of GDP by 2030, surpassing pandemic-era records, according to IMF forecasts.

The IMF estimates the U.S. budget deficit will remain above 7% of GDP annually until 2030, the highest among rich nations tracked by the fund.

Fink’s crypto pivot

Fink has gone from calling cryptos such as Bitcoin “the domain of money launderers and thieves” in 2017 to describing himself as a “major believer” in 2024, saying it’s “an instrument you invest in when you’re more frightened.”

Two weeks ago, he told CBS that markets force constant reassessment, adding that crypto has “a role in the same way there is a role for gold, that is, it’s an alternative.”

With BlackRock managing $12.5 trillion in assets and operating the largest crypto ETF, the iShares Bitcoin Trust, with $93.9 billion under management, his views carry substantial weight across global markets.

Nic Puckrin, crypto analyst and co-founder of The Coin Bureau, told Decrypt that while Bitcoin originated as an “asset of fear” in response to the 2008 financial crisis, crypto has evolved into “a risk-on bet on the future of blockchain technology and an entirely new, borderless financial system.”

Bitcoin and blue-chip tokens remain viewed as hedges against fiat devaluation, Puckrin said, calling it “a secular trend, not just a short-term fear-based strategy.”

Bitcoin is currently trading at around $114,820, down 0.4% in the past 24 hours, per CoinGecko data.

Meanwhile, users of prediction market Myriad, launched by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, expect that Bitcoin will not outperform gold this year, suggesting lingering uncertainty about crypto’s volatility despite growing institutional adoption.

Sygnum’s Dori pointed to U.S. public entities exploring strategic reserves, major managers positioning Bitcoin as collateral, and the CME’s move toward 24/7 crypto derivatives as signs that the “pieces of the puzzle are coming together.”