In his 2026 shareholder letter, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink declared tokenization a pivotal upgrade to financial infrastructure-comparable to the internet’s impact in the 1990s.
Fink argues today’s financial system concentrates wealth among asset owners while excluding many workers. Tokenization, he says, can “update the plumbing” by making investments faster, cheaper, and more accessible through digital wallets.
“Half the world’s population carries a digital wallet on their phone,” Fink wrote. “Imagine if that same wallet could let you invest in a broad mix of companies-as easily as sending a payment.”
BlackRock already manages nearly $150 billion tied to digital markets, including the world’s largest tokenized fund, BUIDL, $65 billion in stablecoin reserves, and almost $80 billion in digital asset ETFs.
Fink stressed this isn’t speculative hype but a strategic push to broaden market participation amid rising inequality, U.S. debt, and underfunded social systems. He urged regulators to build safe bridges between legacy finance and digital rails-with strong identity verification and investor protections.
For Fink, modernizing finance isn’t optional-it’s essential to include more people as investors, not bystanders.