BlackRock CIO on Bitcoin: "We've Started to Dabble in It"

The world's largest asset manager has "started to dabble in" Bitcoin.

Only in January, a twin filing with the SEC issued by $7 trillion behemoth BlackRock made waves in the Bitcoin space as the firm wrote some of its funds "may engage in futures contracts based on bitcoin."

Now BlackRock's Chief Investment Officer Rick Rieder has doubled down: in a Wednesday interview with CNBC, Rieder revealed that the asset management giant had taken an interest in Bitcoin. Explaining the move towards the asset, Rieder commented that "people are looking for store houses of value, people are looking for places that could appreciate under the assumption that inflation moves higher and that debts are building.”

My sense is the technology has evolved, and the regulation has evolved to a point where a number of people think it should be part of a portfolio, so that’s driving the price up.

Rieder has previously shown himself bullish on Bitcoin, as he spoke of its potential to "take the place of gold to a large extent" in November.

Elaborating further on Wednesday, Rieder noted that BlackRock is currently "holding a lot more cash than we've held historically" since "interest rates don't work as a hedge." As such, "diversifying into other assets makes some sense."

Rieder is joined in his view by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who was quoted in December saying that "Bitcoin has caught the attention and the imagination of many people."

At the time, Fink commented, "these big giant moves every day…it’s a thin market. Can it evolve into a global market? Possibly."