The New York-based $26 billion Soros Fund Management is preparing to trade cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg quotes people familiar with the matter as saying.
The news comes a few months after George Soros called cryptocurrencies a “bubble.” Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, aid digital coins cannot function as actual currencies because of their volatility.
“As long as you have dictatorships on the rise you will have a different ending, because the rulers in those countries will turn to Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) to build a nest egg abroad,” Soros, 87, said on Jan. 25.
Bitcoin has fallen 41 percent since.
Soros has already been indirectly betting on crypto. At the end of 2017, Soros became a large stakeholder in Overstock.com, which is known for its early acceptance of cryptocurrency.
Soros is not the only billionaire to turn to cryptocurrencies. John Burbank plans to raise $150 million for two funds investing in digital currencies.
Billionaire Alan Howard made sizable personal wagers in cryptocurrencies last year and plans to put more of his own money into digital assets and the blockchain technology behind them.
By Siranush Ghazanchyan