In other words, the current financial system is too slow, too expensive, and too outdated to survive the next decade. Fink made these remarks on a panel alongside Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, and this matters. Because when the largest asset manager in the world and one of the most powerful hedge fund managers are aligned on infrastructure, that’s not speculation, that’s planning. BlackRock isn’t just talking. In its 2026 outlook, BlackRock explicitly highlighted three structural shifts. Artificial intelligence, digital assets, and tokenization. Not hypecoins, not memes. Infrastructure. One major signal is BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF. That ETF now holds roughly $70 billion in assets.

One of the fastest growing ETFs in financial history, as a matter of fact. This wasn’t Bitcoin ideology. It was proof of a concept, proof that digital rails can absorb institutional capital faster than legacy systems ever could. Fink also pointed to Brazil and India as examples of where this transition is already happening. Both countries have embraced digital payment systems at scale. India’s UPI system and Brazil’s PICS networks have moved hundreds of millions of people into real-time digital finance. Fink’s message was extremely clear. This isn’t theoretical. This is operational. But here’s where things get interesting. You see, Fink didn’t just talk about technology, he talked about trust.

Or more accurately, the lack of it. And that’s what tokenization does. You see, at Davos, Fink openly acknowledged what he called a crisis of confidence. Trust in institutions, trust in leadership, trust in the elites. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have trust. Even trust in Davos itself because it’s collapsing. That’s a rare admission from someone like Fink. But someone sitting at the top of the ladder, top of the system himself, is bringing this up. And it matters even more because Fink is serving as interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum this year. That tokenization isn’t just about efficiency.

It’s about being positioned as a way to rebuild trust through transparency, automation, and access. And that’s where the reaction split. Crypto supporters saw validation. For years, supporters of crypto have argued that tokenization was inevitable. That once the technology matured, institutions would adopt it. Davos confirmed that shift, but skeptics saw something else. They don’t fear tokenization itself. They fear who’s going to control it. A unified blockchain run by global financial institutions could mean efficiency, but it could also mean permission to access centralized control and financial surveillance at scale. So the question isn’t whether tokenization is coming because it is.

You see, the real question is who owns the rails? Who’s going to control it? Who’s going to set the rules? What Larry Fink laid out at Davos was not a crypto pitch. It was a blueprint, a roadmap towards a tokenized financial system built by institutions for institutions. With retail participation layered on top of that, whether that future expands opportunity or concentrates power depends entirely on the governance. But one thing is undeniable. When BlackRock moves, markets flow. And when the conversation shifts from digital assets to rebuilding the financial system itself, that’s not noise. That is history being written in real time.

Hopefully you got something out of this. The Economic Ninja is out. [tr:trw].

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