UNITED STATES - OCTOBER 27: Thomas Peterffy, chairman of the Interactive Brokers Group LLC, poses in his Greenwich, Connecticut office Thursday, October 27, 2005. Peterffy, whose firm has made the highest disclosed bid for Refco Inc., said he is determined to beat competitors in an auction for the bankrupt futures broker's regulated businesses. (Photo by George Ruhe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Thomas Peterffy – Founder and Chairman of Interactive Brokers – believes the American authorities might ban cryptocurrencies amid concerns that they facilitate illegal activities. Nonetheless, the billionaire remains a HODLer, vowing to purchase more bitcoin if its price drops to $12,000.
In a recent interview for Forbes, Peterffy envisioned that the ongoing financial crisis, specifically the record inflation in the US, will continue for the next few years:
“I believe inflationary pressures will continue for years, not months. This is not a short-term issue.”
To prove his grim forecast, he pointed out several factors that will keep the inflation rate at peak levels: disruption in supply chains as globalization “reverses,” a shortage of skilled workers and increasing automation, decades of chronic US deficit spending, rising interest rates, and more.
Amidst this turbulence, he recommended investors focus on perspective publicly-traded firms as this is “a great time to do research and accumulate stocks of companies.”
Moving on to investing in cryptocurrencies, the billionaire warned that this might not be a good idea since there is a “high chance” bitcoin will “become worthless or outlawed.” In his view, criminals widely employ digital assets in their illicit operations, which could prompt the American government to prohibit the asset class.
Despite the warning, Peterffy remains a BTC HODLer. He even said he will increase his exposure if the asset’s price tumbles to $12K.
Nearly a year ago, the Hungarian-born businessman admitted he had allocated some of his wealth to digital assets. Without disclosing which coins he chose, he outlined a scenario where crypto becomes a globally dominant currency:
“Even I myself have put a little bit of money into crypto, because even though chances are, I think, that this is not going to be a viable market, I think that there’s a small chance that this will be a dominant currency, so you have to play the odds.”
It is also worth noting that last summer, his organization – Interactive Brokers – allowed cryptocurrency trading services to its customers. Peterffy explained that the reason was the surging interest in digital asset options.
He also assured that the services will offer maximum protection to investors. Interactive Brokers has over 1.6 million institutional and individual brokerage clients, managing more than $370 billion in customer equity.
