Despite a tenuous link between Blackrock and XRP, several cryptocurrency supporters have cautioned that the rumors that the world's largest asset manager is switching its attention from bitcoin to XRP are untrue. Blackrock is now awaiting approval of their spot bitcoin ETF application from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Crypto advocates question the accuracy of Blackrock-XRP rumors
Social media has been rife with speculations over the past few days that Blackrock, the largest asset management in the world, is switching its cryptocurrency strategy from bitcoin to XRP. One of the pieces that was discussed a lot was written by Investing.com and was titled "Blackrock rumored to shift crypto focus from Bitcoin to XRP." It was stated in the article that it was "generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor."
Many members of the cryptocurrency community cast doubt on the news' authenticity, pointing out that the allegation is unsupported and that there are no reliable sources for it. Budhil Vyas, a crypto influencer, referred to it as fake news outright in a post he made on social media site X.
Blackrock is NOT switching from bitcoin to XRP, beware of fake news. Don't believe the reports that the biggest asset manager in the world is switching from Bitcoin to the digital currency backed by Ripple.
However, other X users emphasized a link between Blackrock and Ripple. They specified that Robert Mitchnick, who is presently in charge of the asset management company's digital assets, previously oversaw strategy and product marketing at Ripple Labs.
Blackrock is now awaiting approval of its proposal to launch a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The asset management has repeatedly reaffirmed its dedication to following rules. Cryptocurrency "has a differentiating value versus other asset classes," according to Blackrock CEO Larry Fink, who also noted that "it's so international it's going to transcend any one currency and currency valuation."
According to SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, all cryptocurrency tokens—aside from bitcoin—are securities. The SEC and Ripple Labs are now involved in a legal dispute over the offers and sales of XRP.
There were rumors earlier this month that Blackrock was buying a significant amount of BTC in preparation for the debut of their spot bitcoin ETF. Despite the SEC's judgment on each spot bitcoin ETF application being postponed, some analysts believe the securities regulator will approve the majority of them, if not all, by mid-March 2019.
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