Blackrock Waiting Until Cryptos Become 'Legitimate' Before Offering ETFs

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said Thursday that while he hasn't entirely written off the possibility of his company trading crypto assets, he thinks the industry still needs time to mature.

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is avoiding a bitcoin ETF until cryptocurrencies become "Legitimate." https://t.

The NY based firm currently has over 6 trillion in assets under its management as of March 2018, and has been approached by crypto companies like Coinbase.

Seeking to launch their own crypto ETFs, but is yet to enter the space.

Fink also pointed to crypto's anonymity, notably Bitcoin's, and the fact that it's been used for criminal activity in the past, in places like the dark web.

Other Institutions Jumping InFink seems to be the exception to the rule lately, as several large institutions have put their money into the crypto investment space in just the last couple of months.

Money from Yale's endowment fund was put toward two major cryptocurrency investment groups, and Fidelity Financial just launched its own crypto custodian and trading service for institutional clients.

As far as government backing, different government entities have tried their hand with crypto, to varying degrees of success.

India appears to mirror Fink's view, moving away from crypto but embracing the blockchain.

Japan just decided to vest the country's self-appointed crypto regulator with government authority to police its exchanges.