BlackRock CEO Says Tokenization Is “Next Wave Of Opportunity”

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said tokenization will drive the firm’s ”next wave of opportunity,” predicting that traditional assets will increasingly move onto blockchains over the coming decades.

Speaking in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Fink said institutions are likely to “start moving away from traditional financial assets by repotting them in a digital manner.”

“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. ”We look at that as the next wave of opportunity for BlackRock over the next tens of years.”

CEO of world’s largest asset manager…

“We’re just at the beginning of the tokenization of all assets.”

Yes, includes ETFs.

Larry Fink on his positively evolving attitude towards crypto: “I grow & learn.”

Good lesson here.

And some of you *still* think crypto is a scam. pic.twitter.com/GJ8oxWF3vK

— Nate Geraci (@NateGeraci) October 15, 2025

Fink sees tokenization unlocking access to traditional financial markets for younger investors. 

“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,” Fink said. 

Fink’s remarks come after the CEO announced in BlackRock’s earnings call that the asset manager plans to play a larger role in tokenization in the future. Teams across the firm are already exploring options on how to expand into the nascent tokenization space.

That potential expansion will come alongside BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which is worth $2.8 billion and is currently the largest tokenized cash market fund following its launch in March last year.

Tokenization Market To Surpass $13 Trillion By End Of Decade

The asset tokenization space is currently worth more than $2 trillion, according to data from market research company Mordor Intelligence. It is also predicted to grow substantially over the next few years to surpass $13 trillion by the end of the decade. 

There is also already over $33.84 billion in tokenized value on the blockchain, data from RWA.xyz shows. Most of this value is tokenized private credit, accounting for approximately $17.6 billion. 

Breakdown of RWA value (Source: RWA.xyz)

There has been more than 6% growth in the number of holders of tokenized assets in just the past thirty day.

Fink Changes His Stance On Crypto

Fink called digital assets an index of money laundering as recently as 2017. He doubled down on his criticism in 2018, and said that none of BlackRock’s clients wanted to invest in the crypto market. 

Now he’s in the front line of taking digital assets mainstream.

In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes earlier this week, Fink 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,” he said. “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.” 

BlackRock’s IBIT Ends Its Inflows Streak

BlackRock has also established itself as a dominant player in the US spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange-traded fund) space. Its product, IBIT, has recorded the highest amount of cumulative inflows since the ETFs received regulatory approval at the start of 2024.

Data from Farside Investors shows that IBIT’s cumulative inflows stand at $65.289 billion. This is far more than the next-biggest total inflows of $12.753 billion, which goes to Fidelity’s FBTC product.

US spot BTC flows (Source: Farside Investors)

BlackRock’s IBIT had been on a multi-day inflow streak between Sept. 30 and Oct. 13. This was until it recorded $30.8 million in net daily outflows in the latest trading session. Still, these negative flows are minute compared to the over $4.5 billion that entered the product during the inflows streak.

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