Founder of the capital management firm Morgan Creek Antony Pompliano stated in an interview that more than 50 percent of his net worth is in Bitcoin. The interview was being conducted in CNBC’s Squawk Box which is one of the mainstream platforms that openly discuss issues related to cryptocurrency. Recently, Pompliano also hit the headlines by stating that Bitcoin will touch the $100,000 mark within 30 months.
The CNBC program turned out to be a heated discussion between Pompliano and Kevin O’Leary, a Canadian investor, who is known to have sceptical views about cryptocurrency. O’Leary is best known for his role as the astute judge on ABC’s “Shark Tank”.
While stressing on the volatility of Bitcoin, which prevents investors from placing faith on it, O’Leary asked Pompliano “If you’re such a believer, how much of your own dough is in it?” “Over 50 percent of my net worth is in Bitcoin,” Pompiano replied; a statement for which O’Leary was seemingly not prepared.
In return Pompliano asked O’Leary how much of his current net worth is in the stock market. O’Leary did not give a direct answer and stated that he does not hold more than 5 percent in a single stock. He went ahead and stressed on the importance of diversification of investment and called Pompliano’s move as “insane”. “I teach this stuff! You never go beyond concentrations of that nature! Fifty percent! Shame on you! That’s nuts!” O’Leary exclaimed.
Pompliano on his part, explained earlier that not holding Bitcoin as a major segment of one’s portfolio is an irresponsible move in present times. He stated that in spite of being volatile Bitcoin is an asset that “actually can provide non-correlation to the rest of the markets, especially in times of global instability.”
According to him, Bitcoin’s major advantage lies in the fact that it is not influenced by macroeconomic events that occur around the globe. He stated that even when the trade war between U.S. and China escalated in last May, the Bitcoin prices surged by 55 percent.
Pompliano’s opinions were welcomed by Bitcoin supporters in social media. Many of them criticized O’Leary behaviour as “condescending” and “arrogant” while stating that Pompliano was “too soft” in his responses.
While Bitcoin supporters tend to be rigid with their opinions, financial commentator and Bitcoin denouncer Peter Schiff criticized CNBC through a Tweet for offering more prime-time to Bitcoin than gold. Pompliano remarked earlier in a CNN interview that the advantage of Bitcoin over gold is that it allows the investors to know the exact amount getting created and the total supply available.
Even though sceptics differ over Pompliano’s positivity over Bitcoin, the debate is definitely set to continue in mainstream platforms.
