PUBLISHED FRI, MAR 11 202211:59 AM ESTUPDATED SAT, MAR 12 202212:29 AM EST
Kevin Stankiewicz@KEVIN_STANK
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- Kevin O’Leary told CNBC on Friday one-fifth of his investment holdings are tied up in crypto tokens and currencies and companies.
- “I have millions of dollars, 20% of my portfolio is now in cryptocurrencies and blockchain,” O’Leary said in an interview on “Squawk Box.”
- Cryptocurrencies have gained popularity in recent years, but regulators still express concerns about speculation.
VIDEO02:35Venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary: 20% of my portfolio is in cryptocurrencies
Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary told CNBC on Friday that one-fifth of his investment holdings are tied up in cryptocurrencies and companies operating in the nascent digital asset industry.
“I have millions of dollars, 20% of my portfolio is now in cryptocurrencies and blockchain,” O’Leary said in an interview on “Squawk Box.” Blockchains are the distributed digital ledgers on which cryptocurrencies run.
Cryptocurrencies have attracted considerable attention and investment in recent years, including from large institutions and high-profile figures like hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones and fund manager Bill Miller. Many tout bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, as a long-term store of value. There’s a raft of other, smaller digital tokens, too.
Crypto backers say it remains early earnings for the industry — bitcoin itself has only been around since January 2009. Still, crypto startups are attracting billions of dollars of venture capital.
At the same time, the burgeoning asset class remains volatile, and regulators like Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler have warned about its “highly speculative” nature and the lack of investor protection. The outgoing chair of the U.K.’s financial regulator also has warned about pump-and-dump schemes in certain digital tokens.
Among crypto’s detractors, billionaire businessman Charlie Munger, a longtime partner of Warren Buffett and a Berkshire Hathaway vice chair, has also been critical of digital currencies and their volatility. In February, he said he wishes the U.S. had banned them. Buffett is no fan either, calling bitcoin in 2018 “rat poison squared.” Others have likened bitcoin to a Ponzi scheme.
