This article comes from:Blockworks, original author: BEN STRACK
Odaily Translator - Moni
There are 1,000 Hamlets in the eyes of 1,000 people, and the same is true for Bitcoin.
Some people think that Bitcoin is a scam. For example, Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, calls Bitcoin a “pet stone,” and stock investor Warren Buffett thinks Bitcoin is “rat poison.” But at the same time, there are also people who believe in the spirit of Bitcoin—this limited Assets in supply can be traded peer-to-peer without financial intermediaries—among them MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
Milk Talk by Michael Saylor and Larry Fink
MicroStrategy, founded by Michael Saylor, a graduate of MIT with a degree in aeronautics and astronautics, has purchased more than 200,000 Bitcoins and appears to be continuing to add to its holdings. Michael Saylor believes that Bitcoin represents capital preservation and is the top asset of mankind. He even substituted numbers into the equation to describe the meaning of Bitcoin:
“I want you to think of Bitcoin as a city in cyberspace, 276 blocks wide, 276 blocks high, 276 blocks deep, approximately 21 million blocks, now imagine 8 billion in the world What would it be like if people one day lived there and everyone put capital into it? The scale of wealth in the world is about $900 trillion, and as people migrate from all other forms of property to cyberspace, you will see Bitcoin The network grew from a $1 trillion network to 10x to 100x.
Larry Fink, as the CEO of BlackRock, one of the worlds largest asset management companies, was not optimistic about Bitcoin at first. He once called Bitcoin a money laundering index in 2017, but now, the situation is completely different . In October 2023, Larry Fink believed in an interview that cryptocurrency was an “asset that is gradually turning into a high-quality asset” and called Bitcoin digital gold:
“Bitcoin is an international ledger, it’s cross-border, and if you’re scared about the future, or you’re scared about devaluing your currency because of too many deficits, you can use Bitcoin, it has huge potential.”
Influence from different angles
CK Zheng, co-founder of cryptocurrency hedge fund ZX Squared Capital, said that both Michael Saylor and Larry Fink were extremely influential in driving Bitcoin adoption, but he added that their impact on Bitcoin came from completely different perspectives:Michael Saylor is a Bitcoin maximalist, while Larry Fink is a fund manager executive seeking to “democratize” investing in the crypto market—
“Michael Saylor’s commitment to Bitcoin is unquestionable and his actions speak louder than words, pure and simple: buy and hold, always, no matter the market peaks or troughs.”
At the same time, BlackRock has been increasing its investment in Bitcoin recently. According to data from BitMex Research, the asset management giant’s spot Bitcoin ETF iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has traded almost every trading day since its launch on January 11. There is a net inflow, reaching nearly 14 billion U.S. dollars as of March 28, and Bitcoin holdings exceed 250,000 BTC.Exceeded MicroStrategys open interest.Peter Najarian, managing partner at RW 3 Ventures, believes that Larry Fink’s support for the crypto industry may have had a greater impact as the spot Bitcoin ETF received regulatory approval. “Some would argue that in the current environment,Larry Fink is more powerful than Fed chairman。”
Who is the better Bitcoin salesman?
Different people have different interpretations of Michael Saylor and Larry Fink, and they will resonate with different investors.
Ryan Rusmussen, senior cryptocurrency research analyst at Bitwise Investments, said Michael Saylor’s views on Bitcoin easily resonate with the cryptocurrency community, but may be somewhat polarizing for traditional investors. For example, Michael Saylor does not believe in asset diversification, a view that goes against the beliefs of traditional investors, making it difficult for them to align with it.
In addition, Michael Saylor sometimes goes too far with his rhetoric, saying in a recent interview with Yahoo Finance: “People who use fiat currency as a store of value — we give them a name: poor.” So,Michael Saylor may not be popular with investors outside of the crypto industry.
on the other hand,Larry Fink sometimes seems too old schoolFor example, when he explained Bitcoin, he called it an asset class that protects you from economic uncertainty and geopolitical risks. This dogmatic style makes it difficult to attract young retail investors, who even You may not know what BlackRock is. In contrast, Larry Finks point is particularly relevant to older professional investors.
CK Zheng believes that it is rare for a mature traditional financial executive to take such a view on Bitcoin in its early adoption stage. Many Wall Street CEOs are still not fully comfortable with cryptocurrencies, and BlackRock Radically accelerating the adoption of Bitcoin in the (traditional financial) world overnight, establishing itself as a leader in the Bitcoin ETF space.
follow demand
Overall, Michael Saylors belief in Bitcoin is relatively firm and stable, while Larry Finks belief in Bitcoin seems to be more based on customer needs. He cleverly designed it for institutional investors and individual investors through the familiar ETF form. a path to success.
It is worth mentioning that BlackRock launched its first tokenized fund on the Ethereum network on March 20. Robert Mitchnick, the company’s head of digital assets, called these products the latest development in its digital asset strategy. There is no doubt that many companies in the financial industry have realized that cryptocurrencies are too big to ignore. This is the case with BlackRock, Fidelity and others, which is one of the reasons why they have chosen to enter the market recently.
The reason why Larry Fink can confidently put Bitcoin, gold, and US Treasuries in the same place is because he has seen customers start using Bitcoin, which is both a huge business opportunity and a reflection of the enthusiasm of investors around the world. Perceptions of cryptocurrencies have fundamentally changed.
