Billionaires Embrace Crypto In Case Money ‘Goes To Hell’

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Thomas Peterffy published a full page advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in 2017 warning of the dangers that bitcoin futures posed to capital markets.

These days, the Hungarian-born billionaire is quite familiar with the crypto language. Peterffy, worth $ 25 billion, said it was safe to have 2% to 3% of his personal wealth in cryptocurrency, just in case the fiat money went to “hell.”

He owns them himself, while his company Interactive Brokers Group Inc. recently offered its clients the option of trading Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash, after detecting “the urgency.” of its customers to participate in the action.

Peterffy, 77, said Connecticut-based Greenwich, Interactive Brokers, will offer the ability to trade around five to ten more coins starting this month.

It is possible for cryptocurrencies to generate extraordinary returns, although the reverse is also true, said Peterffy.

“I think it can go all the way to zero, and I think it can go up to a million dollars,” he said in an interview. “I have no idea.”

His approach highlights the changing attitude towards crypto from investors who once despised or distrusted digital tokens but realized, especially in 2021, that they couldn’t bear to miss out on the potential for big gains.

Even though prices varied wildly, investors large and small dived into Bitcoin and Ethereum as well as non-fungible tokens, dog-themed assets and shitcoins, including the aptly named $ ASS Coin.

Ray Dalio recently revealed that he has at least Bitcoin and Ethereum in his wallet just months after questioning the usefulness of crypto as a store of wealth.

The founder of Bridgewater Associates sees investments as an alternative currency in a world where “money is a dumpster” and inflation erodes purchasing power.

Paul Tudor Jones revealed he invested as a hedge against inflation, and nearly half of the family offices Goldman Sachs does business with were interested in adding digital currencies to their portfolios, according to a recent bank survey.

Crypto has increasingly entered the mainstream of finance, but with mixed success.

ProShares launched the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF, which attracted over $ 1 billion in two days, before inflows collapsed and the price collapsed since its debut in October. Crypto enthusiasts are still hoping that U.S. regulators will approve an ETF that actually holds Bitcoin in 2022.

Fitting better, Coinbase went public and now has a market valuation of $ 54 billion. Its founder, Brian Armstrong, is worth $ 9.7 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

It was also a time when crypto collided with culture. A Beeple NFT sold for $ 69.3 million at Christie’s. Tom Brady has released NFTs tied to his legendary career, while Katy Perry, Grimes and the agency behind K-Pop sensation BTS have all sought to take advantage of the booming industry. The President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has even made Bitcoin legal tender in his country.

The crypto marketing juggernaut will continue into 2022 – Staples Center in Los Angeles is now Crypto.com Arena, while Singapore’s FTX and Crypto.com run ads during the Super Bowl – though prices don’t necessarily go up to the moon.

Michael Novogratz, who heads Galaxy Digital, said last month that prices could “drop sideways” in the short term. There was a lot of “foam” in the markets in 2021, Novogratz told Bloomberg, as retail investors crowded into NFTs and pursued unusual crypto investments. The New York-based digital evangelist also predicted that Bitcoin would not fall below a low of around $ 42,000. It closed the year at around $ 46,300.

“So much money is pouring into this space, it wouldn’t make sense if crypto prices went way below that,” Novogratz said.

Jesse Powell, CEO of crypto exchange Kraken, acknowledges that prices could come down, but said on Bloomberg TV on December 14 that any move below $ 40,000 is a “buying opportunity.” He hastens to admit that he is not always right. In August, he predicted that prices would hit $ 100,000 a coin in 2021. Cathie Wood of Ark Investment Management, meanwhile, still expects Bitcoin to hit $ 500,000 and said last month that it was not necessarily due to a correction.

There is still a lot of skepticism on the part of Wall Street and the ultra-rich, but also pragmatism.

Ken Griffin of Citadel recently described the rush to embrace cryptocurrencies as a “jihadist appeal” against the US dollar. But Griffin said his own company would trade cryptos if there was more regulation. Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase called Bitcoin “worthless” in October, but it happened even as the New York-based banking giant was recruiting to help customers trade digital currencies.

The bank’s customers are “adults,” Dimon said.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on Bloomberg and is published under a special syndication agreement.

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