BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes warns that asset management giant BlackRock’s entry into the Bitcoin (BTC) space could change “fundamentally change” the top crypto asset.
In a new interview with Tom Bilyeu, Hayes acknowledges that while he and other traders are cheering on the possibility of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) and all the money such a product is likely to bring into the crypto market, he’s also concerned about the potential influence it will give to traditional finance.
The crypto veteran says that is the “real crucible” the digital asset industry will face going forward.
“Will so much value and currency be owned by these centralized asset managers, who are essentially arms of the TradFi (traditional finance) ecosystem, that the underlying fundamentals of what Bitcoin is – the privacy – will those be altered?
Will a BlackRock support through maybe ownership and large mining companies, different sorts of improvement protocols… detract from the immutability of the money, or the censorship resistance or the decentralization?”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed decisions on a slew of spot BTC ETF applications, including BlackRock’s, in late September. However, the regulator will likely rule on several of them by early 2024.
BTC is worth $27,477 at time of writing. The top-ranked crypto asset by market cap is down 0.64% in the past 24 hours.
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