BlackRock's CEO says the firm's crypto business could generate $500 million in annual reve

BlackRock Sees Crypto Business Hitting $500M in Five Years

Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, is making some big predictions. In his annual shareholder letter, he said the company's crypto-related business could bring in $500 million in yearly revenue within the next five years.

Right now, BlackRock is already pulling in around $250 million a year just from fees on its spot bitcoin ETF. All told, the firm manages nearly $150 billion in digital asset-related holdings. That includes $65 billion in stablecoin reserves and roughly $80 billion in digital asset ETPs.

Then there's BUIDL, BlackRock's tokenized fund. It's now the largest of its kind globally, with assets under management topping $20 billion as of last year.

In the letter, Fink doubled down on his belief that tokenization will "rewire the financial system's underlying infrastructure." His vision? Making investing as seamless as sending a payment. He compared the adoption of blockchain tokenization to the rapid rise of the internet back in the 1990s.

But he also had a warning for the US. Falling behind on tokenization and AI, he argued, would mean letting other countries take the lead. And he once again described bitcoin as a "fear asset"—something people turn to when they're worried about their financial and physical safety, or when they're looking for a hedge against currency devaluation driven by fiscal deficits.