Private Equity Giant David Rubenstein Makes the Case for Bitcoin
Asset management leader BlackRock’s interest in a spot bitcoin ETF is among the signals that the cryptocurrency isn’t going anywhere, said the Carlyle Group co-founder.

Billionaire private equity titan David Rubenstein believes Bitcoin (BTC) is here to stay thanks to growing institutional interest as evidenced by BlackRock’s application for a spot bitcoin ETF, as well as general global demand for a form of money that can’t be controlled by governments.
“A lot of people around the world want to be able to trade in a currency that their government can’t know what they have and they want to be able to move it around rightly or wrongly and so I don’t think bitcoin is going away,” he said during an appearance on Bloomberg TV Tuesday.
The co-founder and co-chairman of private equity giant Carlyle Group, Rubenstein admitted his regrets for not having bought bitcoin when it was at $100. He said that people who once mocked the crypto and the sector in general might be forced to take another look given recent interest from traditional finance giants like BlackRock.
“What’s happened is people made fun of bitcoin and other crypto currencies but now the establishment, Larry Fink at BlackRock, is now saying they’re going to have an ETF if approved by the government in bitcoin so you’re saying wait a second, the mighty BlackRock is willing to have an ETF in bitcoin, maybe bitcoin is going to be around for a while,” he said.
Rubenstein has previously disclosed that he is personally invested in companies that facilitate crypto trading, although not owning any cryptocurrencies directly.
Speaking about recent enforcement actions from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by Chair Gary Gensler, Rubenstein said that Ripple’s win in a recent case proves that the agency has not yet convinced the courts that cryptocurrencies are “bad.”
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CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
What to know:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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