Seth Klarman, a billionaire investor, says that he doesn’t see the value of crypto. “I don’t believe anyone should own it. He said, “It just seems to me it could end up very much with tears.”
In an interview with Harvard Business School this week, Seth Klarman , an American billionaire investor and manager of hedge funds, shared his views about a range of topics including cryptocurrency, gold and the U.S. Dollar.
Klarman is the chief executive officer and portfolio manager at the Baupost Group in Boston, which he co-founded back in 1982. The investment company currently manages $30 billion. Forbes estimates that his net worth is $1.5 million.
Klarman spoke out on the topic of cryptocurrency:
Cryptocurrency is not for me. It’s like techies catnip.
He said, “I find it crazy that we use more energy than Iceland to mine crypto and solve math problems that don’t need to be solved.”
“Why do people need 10 or 50 different cryptocurrencies? The billionaire investor continued by emphasizing that he didn’t understand the concept.
It is not something that anyone should own. It could lead to a lot of tears.
Klarman, however, stated that he was a big fan of gold. In a crisis, I believe gold is valuable.
Baupost Group boss, also spoke out about the U.S. Dollar. The U.S. has enjoyed the enormous advantage of being the world’s reserve money for a long time. He stated that it was unlikely for the dollar to be changed anytime soon.
The billionaire noted that it was difficult to imagine anyone accepting Chinese currency.
It is difficult to imagine anyone accepting cryptocurrency. There are too many unknowns.
Klarman is a long-time crypto skeptic. Klarman previously compared Bitcoin to trading Sardinines.
The Baupost Group chief is a champion of value investing, a strategy that was advocated by legendary investors like Warren Buffett and Benjamin Graham. Klarman has been called “the next Warren Buffett” or “the Oracle of Boston.”
Buffett doesn’t see any value in cryptocurrency and bitcoin. He said that bitcoin was “probably rats poison squared.” In May, Buffett stated that he would not pay $25 to buy all bitcoins in the world.