Billionaire Investor Leon Cooperman Says If You Don’t Understand Bitcoin, You’re Old – And If You’re Nervous About The World, Gold Is A Better Store Of Value | Currency News | Financial and business news

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Leon Cooperman.

Rick Wilking / Reuters

If you don’t understand bitcoin, you’re 78-year-old billionaire investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC on Thursday. The head of Omega Advisors said gold is a better place to store value than bitcoin if you’re nervous. It is not in the interest of the US government to continue to replace the dollar, Cooperman noted. Sign up for our daily newsletter, 10 things before the opening bell here.

Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman told CNBC that people who don’t understand bitcoin are likely old, and said gold is a better store of value for those looking for a stable haven for their money.

The president of Omega Advisors noted that while seasoned investor Barry Diller considers cryptocurrencies to be “fraudulent work,” he doesn’t know if they are. Instead, he admits he’s in the dark about digital assets.

“I’m saying if you don’t understand bitcoin that means you’re old. I’m 78. I’m old, I don’t understand it,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. .

But he said one thing he knows is that it’s not in the best interests of the US government to make room for a dollar substitute.

“I guess I would be very careful with bitcoin. I don’t think that makes a lot of sense,” he said. “And if you’re nervous about the world, gold would be a better place to store value than bitcoin.”

The hedge fund manager noted that he owns very little gold, saying, “You know I’m a paper guy. I’m an eternal optimist.”

The price of the precious metal has fallen 9% over the past 12 months, compared to bitcoin’s 60% gain over the same period.

Bitcoin got off to a good start to the week, surpassing $ 50,000 on the momentum of El Salvador’s historic adoption of the token as legal tender. But its price fell 17% on Tuesday to $ 43,050 after the country’s rollout was followed by strong sales on derivatives platforms.

As for stocks, Cooperman said he was monitoring inflation, signals from the Federal Reserve and interest rates for future investments.

“The structure of the market is broken, so when there is a real fundamental reason for the market to go down, it will go down so quickly, you’re going to turn your head,” he said. “There is no stabilizing force in the market now, everything is run by machines.”

Cooperman predicted that there would be no recession in the United States anytime soon. He said he sees it in at least a year, or “maybe longer.”

Read more: A trader who warned of bitcoin bull market highs in 2017 and 2021 breaks down what could send cryptocurrency into a ‘one year’ bear market – and shares what would lead him to buy it again after selling in tuesday sale

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