Thomas Peterffy was once a bitcoin skeptic. Now, he has changed his mind, suggesting the cryptocurrency has come much farther than he – and several others – ever could have imagined.
Thomas Peterffy Seems to Like BTC
Bitcoin began its financial journey about 13 or 14 years ago. The asset was first brought to our attention through a 2008 whitepaper and the currency was first mined in early 2009. Since then, while it had something of a slow start, the currency has risen in price to a whopping $68,000 per unit, which it achieved in November of last year. Not bad for something that was initially trading for only a few cents.
But while bitcoin has easily greased the wheels for some, not everyone is convinced the asset is anything special. Several prominent investors and billionaires such as Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway have referred to BTC by some rather derogatory terms. Buffett even called the currency “rat poison squared” at one point, and he’s gotten support for this rhetoric from people like Charlie Munger who works hand in hand with Buffett at the real estate company.
That’s why it’s always so enjoyable when a skeptic becomes a fan, and that honor now falls on Peterffy. As a billionaire chairman of Interactive Brokers, Peterffy expressed disdain for bitcoin back in 2017, claiming in a Wall Street Journal article that bitcoin futures could easily “destabilize the real economy.”
As a Hungarian businessman, Peterffy is worth approximately $25 million at press time. In a recent interview, he stated that he is now a proud owner of bitcoin. How much is in his portfolio remains a mystery, though we can assume that approximately two or three percent of it is made up of the crypto asset given that he is now advising all traders to have as much allocated to their portfolios as well.
In the discussion, Peterffy said that many fiat currencies are at risk of crashing, and he believes bitcoin is a solid hedge against such action. This has been a common argument since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which is when we first began to see bitcoin rise to the top of the financial ladder. The attitude amongst many traders was that bitcoin was no longer a speculative tool, but a hedge tool that could protect one’s wealth during times of economic strife as governments continued to print money like it grew on trees.
He’s Not Sure Where the Price Will Go
But while he feels bitcoin can be a solid tool for those looking to protect their financial statuses, Peterffy is unsure of where bitcoin’s price will go in the future. He stated:
I think it can go to zero, and I think it can go to a million dollars. I have no idea.
