Investment Manager Jim Chanos of Kynikos Associates has made a bold statements regarding cryptocurrencies and bitcoin in particular, saying its "masquerading as a technological breakthrough".
Chanos, the New York-based investment advisor who is focused on short selling. He gained notability after predicting the fall of Enron Corp. before it filed for bankruptcy in 2001. In his interview with Bloomberg, Chanos warned everyone against investing in cryptocurrencies.
“We’re now nine years into this bull market, same as the ’90s, so I suspect that now things are starting to percolate. […] This is simply a security speculation game masquerading as a technological breakthrough in monetary policy.”
Speaking at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Chanos also said that in case of “the worst-case scenario” even food will function better than bitcoin as a currency:
“For those who believe that you need to own digital currency as a store of value in the worst-case scenario, that’s exactly the case in which a digital currency will work the least. The last thing I’d want to own is Bitcoin if the grid goes down.”
The investor also expressed his opinion on the fraudulent ICO’s, noting that the bull market “keeps advancing and aging.” Suggesting that more evidence will surface on such companies in the near future.
Earlier, an American investor and head of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffett made a similar statement about bitcoin. He believed the cryptocurrency is "probably rat poison squared".
In contrast, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) co-founder Steve Wozniak joined Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey in praising bitcoin, saying its bound to become a single global currency because it “is mathematically defined.”
By Ekaterina Ulyanova