Billionaire investor Seth Klarman says he can’t see the point of crypto. “I don’t think anyone should own it. It seems to me that it could end in a lot of tears,” he said.
Seth Klarman on Crypto Investing, Gold and the US Dollar
American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Seth Klarman shared his thoughts on a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, gold and the US dollar, in an interview with Harvard Business School released this week.
Klarman is the chief executive and portfolio manager of Bapost Group, a Boston-based hedge fund he co-founded in 1982. The investment firm currently has about $30 billion under management. According to Forbes, his estimated net worth is $1.5 billion.
On the topic of cryptocurrency, Klarman said:
I can’t see the point of crypto. It’s an experience for me to be like catnip to tech experts.
“The idea that we are using more energy than the country of Iceland, to do extra crypto, to solve math problems that don’t need to be solved, sounds crazy to me,” he said.
“Why do people need 10 or 50 different cryptocurrencies? I don’t get it,” the billionaire investor insisted:
I don’t think anyone needs to own it. It just seems to me that it could end in a lot of tears.
In contrast, Klarman said: “I’m a fan of gold. I think gold is valuable in a crisis.”
The boss of the Bopost Group also commented on the US dollar. “The US has had a huge advantage of having the dollar, the world’s reserve currency, for a very long time. This is unlikely to change anytime soon,” he said.
Noting that “it’s hard to imagine people accepting Chinese currency,” the billionaire also added:
It’s hard to imagine people accepting cryptocurrency. There are a lot of uncertainties right now.
Klarman has long been a crypto skeptic. He previously compared bitcoin to trading sardines.
The Baupost Group is a core value investing proponent, a strategy created by veteran investors such as Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham. Klarman has been dubbed “the next Warren Buffett” and “the Oracle of Boston”.
Buffett also doesn’t see the value in bitcoin and cryptocurrency. He previously said that bitcoin is “probably a class of rat poison.” In May, he said he would not pay $25 for all the bitcoins in the world.
What do you think of BeauPost Group CEO Seth Klarman’s comments? Let us know in the comments section below.
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