Geopolitical tensions fuel central bank shift toward gold, crypto — BlackRock exec

Update April 26, 4:28 am UTC: This article has been updated to correct the attribution of comments made during the CNBC Asia interview. References to China’s potential shift from US Treasurys toward gold and crypto were made by the CNBC anchor, not BlackRock’s Jay Jacobs.

Central banks worldwide are accelerating their diversification strategies amid rising geopolitical uncertainty, increasingly turning to assets like gold and Bitcoin, according to Jay Jacobs, BlackRock’s head of thematics and active ETFs.

In a recent interview with CNBC, Jacobs pointed to a long-term trend where countries have been reducing their reliance on dollar-based reserves in favor of assets like gold and, increasingly, Bitcoin (BTC).

“This whole diversification away from traditional assets and into things like gold and also crypto [...] probably began three, four years ago,” Jacobs explained.

He said that recent geopolitical fragmentation has intensified the push toward alternative stores of value.

CNBC anchor Martin Soong also referenced growing concerns about the freezing of $300 billion in Russian central bank assets amid its war against Ukraine, suggesting that such events have prompted countries like China to rethink their reserve strategies.

BlackRock executive Jay Jacobs on CNBC. Source: YouTube

Related: Crypto, stocks enter ‘new phase of trade war’ as US-China tensions rise

During the interview, Jacobs said BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has identified geopolitical fragmentation as a defining force for global markets over the coming decades:

He noted that this environment is fueling demand for uncorrelated assets, with Bitcoin increasingly viewed alongside gold as a safe-haven asset.

“We’ve seen significant inflows into gold ETFs. We’ve seen significant inflows into Bitcoin. And this is all because people are looking for those assets that will behave differently,” Jacobs said.

Related: Bitcoin ‘decouples,’ stocks lose $3.5T amid Trump tariff war and Fed warning of ‘higher inflation’

Notably, Jacobs is not alone in stressing Bitcoin’s declining correlation with US equities. Several analysts have also observed that Bitcoin is beginning to decouple from the US stock market.

On April 22, Alex Svanevik, co-founder and CEO of the Nansen crypto intelligence platform, said Bitcoin’s price is showcasing its growing maturity as a global asset, becoming “less Nasdaq — more gold.”

He added that Bitcoin was “surprisingly resilient” amid the trade war compared to altcoins and indexes like the S&P 500, but remains vulnerable to economic recession concerns.

Echoing this sentiment, QCP Capital said in an April 21 Telegram note that Bitcoin seemed to be sharing some of gold’s limelight as a hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty.

“With equities finishing last week in the red and extending an April drawdown, the narrative of BTC as a safe haven or inflation hedge is once again gaining traction. Should this dynamic hold, it could provide a fresh tailwind for institutional BTC allocation,” it wrote.

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