I was reading a recent article about BlackRock's ETF approval. Here are a couple of the high points:

• “The largest asset manager in the world, BlackRock, is now backing both Bitcoin and Ethereum,” TheStreetCrypto’s Austin Arnold explained. “If/when approved, how high, realistically based on the data, could the Ethereum price go?”
• Ultimately, regardless of exact price targets, approval of a spot Ethereum ETF from the largest asset manager in the world is sure to be favorable for the underlying asset. And this institutional interest is major validation for the early adopters of digital assets.
• Taking a close look at ETH’s current market, its previous price cycles and its fundamentals in comparison to bitcoin’s, Arnold outlined a bullish scenario where the ETH price could reach $42,000 following approval of a BlackRock ETF.

My first thought on this is we are all giddy over the recent jump in crypto prices and so we are just going to be OK with anything that helps our portfolio. We should slow down a little, both Bitcoin and Ethereum did quite well increasing in value without the help of BlackRock. We can all say crypto is decentralized, it can't be stopped or controlled. Maybe, but, when a company managing almost 200 Billion gets involved, every politician, bank and money manager is now involved.  

Whether you agree with ESG or not, look at what BlackRock has been able to accomplish politically simply by being such a large stakeholder in companies around the world.  BlackRock has been able to put board members in place in huge energy firms to control future moves by those companies. Think how much pull they will have with Washington when they say they are controlling the crypto market.  Whether they are in fact "controlling" crypto is not the question, but, whether they will use the perception of control to dictate legislation is not.