The famous billionaire hedge fund manager has been among the fiercest critic of cryptocurrencies. Griffin now seems to have a change of heart and now believes the crypto space has some merits.
The sentiments of the founder and CEO of Citadel LLC, Ken Griffin, are pointing to the possibility of the American market maker entering the crypto sphere later this year. In what is a serious change of heart, Griffin, who has been one of the harshest critics of the crypto industry, has finally admitted being wrong about the emerging asset class – he now believes in its merits.
The Citadel founder, speaking on Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein on the current state of markets in light of recent geopolitical conflicts, stated that they are at a “very volatile inflection point.” Griffin, who had previously warned the younger generation to keep off the digital assets saying “there was no need for cryptocurrencies,” told the interviewer when asked about crypto:
“It’s fair to assume that over the months to come, you will see us engage in making markets in cryptocurrencies.”
I haven’t been right on this call
Griffin further stated that crypto had been “one of the great stories in finance over the last years. Griffin was highly skeptical as recently as November 2021, saying at the time that people are focused on new ideas and that he worried “that some of this passion is misplaced when it comes to cryptocurrencies.” With crypto’s current market capitalization of the asset class at almost $2 trillion, Griffin admitted not being “right on this call.” He stated:
“And I’ll be clear; I’ve been in the naysayer camp over that period of time. But the crypto market today has a market capitalization of about $2 trillion in round numbers, which tells you that I haven’t been right on this call.”
Many more businesses would open their arms toward cryptocurrencies
While admitting he still harbored some doubts about some aspects of the industry, Griffin said his company was still keen on entering the crypto space. Prodded further, the Citadel boss opined that he believed many more businesses would open their arms toward cryptocurrencies in the coming months. He explained:
“I still have my skepticism, but there are hundreds and millions of people in this world today who disagree with that. To the extent that we’re trying to help institutions and investors solve their portfolio allocation problems, we have to give serious consideration to being a market maker in crypto.”
I worry about how this bubble might end
The latest comments by Griffin are a U-turn from his earlier position about cryptocurrencies. In 2017, Griffin compared digital assets to the tulip bulb mania. The tulip bulb mania refers to an event in Holland in the 1600s where the contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached unbelievably high levels. Griffin had started back then when BTC was trading at $10,000:
“Bitcoin right now has many of the elements of the tulip bulb mania we saw back hundreds of years ago in Holland […] these bubbles tend to end in tears. And I worry about how this bubble might end.”
This conversion of Griffin to cryptocurrency has, as expected, earned a great deal of commentary on social networks, at a time when Bitcoin joined the list of top 15 most valuable currencies in the world. Crypto influencer and Bitcoin investor Anthony Pompliano on Twitter:
“Eventually they all capitulate.”
Tom is a freelance writer with over 10-years’ experience in content creation, blog writing, and SEO specializing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. As a philosophical figurehead, he believes that to make our world a better place, we must invest in incorruptible products and procedures, of which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are leading examples.
