As we have all seen in the past, bitcoin can be doing extremely well and yet it will still attract detractors along the way. As it turns out, Kevin O’Leary – one of the many judges on the popular investing show “Shark Tank” – doesn’t think much of bitcoin, calling it “too volatile” in a recent interview.
Kevin O’Leary: Bitcoin Is a Concern
As any experienced trader knows, bitcoin can indeed be a rather volatile asset. The currency is prone to price swings – along with other forms of crypto – and can potentially leave someone at the top of the financial ladder or down at the bottom rung. There’s no way of telling what will happen. Anyone who invested in bitcoin early in the year is likely seeing their wealth grow now that we enter the final month of 2020.
However, those who invested in 2014 or 2017 likely saw much of their wealth dissipate during the following years. There’s no way to know what will happen with crypto, which in turn, makes it a bit of a risk for most traders.
However, one thing that has been noted in recent weeks is that bitcoin’s volatility has taken a few steps back. The currency’s present bull run appears to be much more solid, for example, than what occurred in 2017, and as the asset has matured, the currency is gaining the respect and attention it deserves from institutional traders, rather than just retail players.
However, not everyone is convinced, and O’Leary remains a bitcoin doubter. He says that the only way he would ever invest more money into bitcoin is if a crypto-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) was somehow approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He also says that he would need to see more clarified regulation surrounding bitcoin come about in the future.
During the interview, he states:
Last week, it went down $3,000 and now it’s up again. Bitcoin is rather successful this year, but what will happen next year? This kind of volatility is scaring people like me in the traditional market.
There Needs to Be More Regulatory Support
While he states he has nothing against bitcoin, he comments that the environment surrounding it is too unstable for him to take it seriously at the present time. He goes on to mention:
If tomorrow morning we woke up and the SEC said you can create an ETF with bitcoin, and we think bitcoin is a legitimate payment system and storage of wealth, not only would it go up, but you’d have a lot of people like me investing in it because I’d say, ‘Ok, I’ll give it a five percent weighting.’
Bitcoin has risen by close to $16,000 in the last nine months, falling below the $4,000 mark in mid-March but ultimately rising to just over $19,000 at press time.