Co-founder of Oaktree Capital, Howard Marks, with a fortune of $ 2.1 billion, who previously spoke with disdain about bitcoin, changed the attitude towards cryptocurrency for the better. In 2017, Marks called cryptocurrencies “unfounded fads.”
The investor said that there are many things in the world that have no intrinsic value, but people want to possess them. According to Marks, bitcoin is one of those things. It would be much better for people to shift their focus from bitcoin to art, gold or jewelry that has real value, he said. Now the billionaire admitted that those words were “impulsive reactions” to innovations that Marx did not yet have a clear idea of. He added that his statements about Bitcoin have never been confirmed.
The head of Oaktree Capital realized that bitcoin really has great potential and even described the advantages of the first cryptocurrency. The most important advantage of bitcoin, Marks called the ability to trade it 24 hours a day while maintaining confidentiality. In addition, bitcoin has a limited supply of 21 million coins, which increases demand for them and contributes to an increase in prices.
The same cannot be said for the US dollar and other fiat currencies, which are printed in huge quantities by central banks, Marks noted. He argues that the crypto asset market is “looped”: people are interested in bitcoin because its rate is growing.
Accordingly, the increase in demand for BTC further contributes to its growth. “People who once bought bitcoin for $ 5,000 did the right thing, because now it is already trading above $ 50,000,” Marks said.
At the beginning of the year, Marks announced that his family already owns a certain amount of bitcoins, since digital assets should not be neglected when forming an investment portfolio. Even well-known cryptocurrency skeptic and gold investor Peter Schiff has acknowledged the profitability of investing in bitcoin.
However, he is still of the opinion that bitcoin will never be a full-fledged replacement for regular money.
