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CNBC’s Jim Cramer said on Monday that he had offloaded most of his bitcoin holdings, expressing concerns about the recent crackdown on crypto mining by the Chinese government and Bitcoin’s role in some ransomware attacks.
“I have sold almost all of my bitcoin. I don’t need it,” Cramer said on “Squawk on the Street,” more than two months after he first reported that he had cut back. position and paid off a mortgage with those profits.
The price of bitcoin fell more than 6% on Monday to around $ 33,000 per token, around a two-week low. The drop follows a report by the Communist Party-backed Global Times newspaper that more than 90% of the country’s mining capacity is closed after authorities from Sichuan closed “many mines” ‘find there.
China has been home to more than half of the world’s mining capacity for years. Miners play a crucial role in the bitcoin ecosystem, using powerful computers to verify transactions through the decentralized blockchain. In exchange, they are rewarded with bitcoins.
“When the PRC pursues something, it tends to do whatever it wants.… It’s not a democracy. It’s a dictatorship,” Cramer said, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China. He added: “I think they believe this is a direct threat to the regime because it is a system that is beyond their control.”
Cramer, who previously described his bitcoin ownership as an alternative to a cash position, said on Tuesday he also had concerns about how the U.S. government would approach the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value at the light of the attack on the colonial pipeline.
In the cyber incident, which in May disrupted gas supplies on the east coast, the company paid a ransom of $ 5 million in bitcoin to hackers. US law enforcement was able to recover $ 2.3 million from this payment.
“In our country, I think it’s out of our control when it comes to ransomware, and I doubt Colonial is the first company to pay for ransomware. I think they’re the first to almost shut down the coast. Is, ”Cramer said. “I think the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Federal Reserve and the Treasury could come together and say, ‘OK guys, if you pay for ransomware, we’re going to sue you. “
Shortly after the Colonial, another ransomware group targeted the world’s largest supplier of beef. This company, the Brazilian company JBS, paid the hackers $ 11 million.
Looking at these two headwinds for bitcoin, Cramer said, “I’m saying it’s not increasing for structural reasons.”
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