Former Barclays CEO says he ‘loves’ seeing BlackRock involved in crypto
Former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond commented on BlackRock’s recent crypto activity in an interview with CNBC. June 21.
Diamond, currently CEO of Atlas Merchant Capital, said:
“I love seeing mainstream companies like BlackRock involved here … I am not surprised that they are more broadly involved with cryptocurrencies now.”
BlackRock recently applied for a spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). If successful, it would be the first company in the United States to propose such an investment.
However, BlackRock’s cryptocurrency activities are not limited to that application. Diamond noted that both one of his firms and BlackRock had previously invested in USDC Corporate Circle.
black rock is April 2022 A funding round in which Circle raised $400 million. Diamond’s current company, Atlas, was not named as an investor in the press release, so it is unclear what capacity Diamond and his company have invested in.
Diamond comments on the cryptocurrency industry
Diamond also commented more broadly on the cryptocurrency market. He said:
“The word cryptography has a broad meaning, but if we limit ourselves to digitizing a lot of what we do, it’s a natural progression.”
He argued that the crypto industry should stop evading regulation, adding that cooperation with regulators would be attractive to the banking industry. “Strong banks want strong regulation,” he said. He said cryptocurrencies need clarity to have a positive impact.
Diamond did not name companies struggling with regulation, but major crypto exchanges Coinbase and Binance faced charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June. Both companies said they tried to work with regulators but were not given the means to register.
Diamond said he did not buy Bitcoin (BTC). But David Shamis, a partner at Atlas Merchant Capital, is investing, he said.
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