The Largest Asset Manager Sees Potential in Crypto

Cryptocurrencies has the potential to become more widely used in the future as the markets mature, Richard Turnill, Global Chief Investment Strategist for BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, wrote in a weekly report.

Although the note strikes a mostly cautious tone in general, warning that people should invest only if they are ready to lose everything, it still retains a slight optimism.

Turnill noted in the report how cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, the markets are fragmented and there simply is no regulation.

“The volatility of the cryptocurrencies makes the gyrations in the U.S. equity market during the global financial crisis almost look placid,” he said, adding that crypto has a long way to go until it becomes part of mainstream portfolios.

Even with all those problematic points from the perspective of traditional investing, Turnill still considers the market to be evolving, suggesting that it might need a global regulatory framework – “how to regulate cryptocurrencies is on the agenda of a G20 meeting in March,” he adds, in the same vein of yesterday’s European Commission roundtable that did not say anything new, speculatively because they want to wait until the G20 meeting.

More concrete opinions and viewpoints about cryptocurrency and blockchain seem to be waiting for the G20 meeting to happen, as regulatory forces converge upon Argentina, where the meeting is to be held.

BlackRock, Inc. is an American global investment management corporation based in New York City. Due to its power and the sheer size and scope of its financial assets and activities, BlackRock has been called the world’s largest shadow bank.