We often see traditional finance billionaires once haters of Bitcoin change their minds about it. That sounds like a green flag and reinforces the thesis that crypto came to stay.
Remember: you should NOT take advice from crypto billionaires in crypto (as Elon with Dogecoin, Mark Cuban with Voyager, and other examples that we mentioned in this release). What you can do is understand their views on the market and use this as an indication of where the smart money is going.
Also, one resource is the Debank.com Web3 Social Ranking where you can track wallets of those degens that are active in the space.
Stanley Druckenmiller
Background: a billionaire ($6.4B), hedge fund manager, and Soros’ protegé that shorted British Pound (GBP) back in the ’90s and profited $1B from the trade.
Views on BTC and Crypto: Druckenmiller is convinced of a recession in 2023 and blames the Fed for its recent actions. He also said that cryptocurrencies could have a “renaissance” if central banks lose public confidence amid their efforts to fight inflation and stave off recessions. Digital currencies could be the scapegoat for the lack of trust in centralized entities.
Paul Tudor Jones II
Background: a billionaire ($7.5B) and hedge fund manager that created a fund that delivered returns of around 20% for 25 straight years.
Views on BTC and Crypto: Jones believes “it’s hard not to be long crypto” and allocates around 2% of his portfolio in BTC and could increase his exposure up to 5% eventually.
His first take is that we’re seeing intellectual capital moving to the industry, similarly to what happened in the 90’s with the development of the internet. The second one is that the macro conditions of a recession might lead to a rally of assets that were previously beaten down. This is likely to happen when the Fed stops hiking rates. So the combo of a digital world and the macro failures caused by monetary policies worldwide might lead to a higher demand for BTC and other crypto assets.
Howard Marks
Background: a billionaire ($2.2B) and co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management that previously had negative remarks about Bitcoin:
Views on BTC and Crypto: Marks had dismissed Bitcoin as having no intrinsic value, but according to him, that’s not a setback anymore. “There are many things that people value highly but have no intrinsic value, and demand is growing because more people are interested in it.”
Carl Icahn
Background: American financier and billionaire ($18.1B), founder of Icahn Enterprises.
Views on BTC and Crypto: Icahn believes crypto is here to stay in one form or another, and back in October 2021 he said that BTC could have value if inflation gets out of hand. His company hasn’t invested in digital assets yet, but he is willing to invest around 10% of his fortune in the sector.
Bonus: Willy Woo’s (@woonomic) take on BTC adoption – 1B users by 2025
Background: Woo is a BTC analyst, co-founder of CMCC Crest, and one of the industry’s most famous personalities. Even though he is not a billionaire (as far as we know), his opinions are usually taken into consideration.
Views on BTC and Crypto: he believes that Bitcoin will be used by 1 billion active users by 2025, and this prediction is based on a similarity of Bitcoin’s development to the growth of the internet in the 1990s. Woo also stated that even with the adoption growth since its inception, in 2022, only 4% of the world population (more than 300 million people) use Bitcoin, indicating a potential for the following years. If there is a higher adoption, we’ll likely see price appreciation.
The bottom line
If we understand new technologies right away, they’re probably not transformational. The unease and uncertainty behind innovations indicate that they’re worth our attention. We’re still in the early stages, and there is a lot to evolve until we hit the mainstream, but it all points to crypto being here for the long term.
From: Weekly Digital Asset Insights