Bitcoin is often referred to as digital . And now a top strategist at the world's largest asset management firm says the cryptocurrency could one day replace the yellow metal as a go-to safe haven investment.
surged 4% Friday to above US$18,700 鈥� to the all-time high of just under $20,000 from December 2017 鈥� after BlackRock's chief investment officer of fixed income, Rick Rieder, said in a that bitcoin is here to stay.
"Do I think it's a durable mechanism that could take the place of gold to a large extent? Yeah, I do, because it's so much more functional than passing a bar of gold around," Rieder said.
The , which , is the latest sign of validation of bitcoin from the mainstream financial world.
Square and PayPal have endorsed it as a , and influential hedge fund managers Stanley Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones have touted it as a investment.
Still, gold moved higher on Friday, too. Gold and from . Investors increasingly view bitcoin as a viable alternative to paper, government-backed currencies.
