Billionaires Embrace Crypto In Case ‘Money Goes To Hell’

[ad_1]

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.

Cryptocurrencies are gradually becoming more common. Credit: iStock

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

ProShares launched the first U.S. Bitcoin futures ETF, which attracted more than $ 1 billion ($ 1.4 billion) in two days, before inflows collapsed and the price has since collapsed. 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 crammed 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 US $ 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 US $ 40,000 is a “buying opportunity.” He hastens to admit that he is not always right. In August, he predicted that prices would hit US $ 100,000 per coin in 2021. Cathie Wood of Ark Investment Management, meanwhile, still expects Bitcoin to hit US $ 500,000, and said the month last that it was not necessarily due to a correction.

Loading

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 cryptocurrency 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 & Co. called Bitcoin “worthless” in October, but it came even as the New York-based banking giant was recruiting to help clients trade digital currencies.

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

Bloomberg

[ad_2]