CNBC’s Jim Crames has gone full-on crypto – from criticizing bitcoin a few years back to requesting his salary to be paid in BTC.
During a recent interview, he also commented on Coinbase’s plans to become a publicly traded company and predicted even more bullish developments for the entire industry.
MicroStrategy’s CEO and founder, Michael Saylor, broke the news yesterday that his company has made another pro-bitcoin move. After purchasing nearly 100,000 bitcoins in the span of several months, the NASDAQ-listed business intelligence giant announced it will start paying non-employee directors in BTC instead of cash.
Naturally, the move caught the attention of proponents and commentators. Furthermore, it reached even mass media. CNBC’s Squawk Box had a section on this and the host of Mad Money, Jim Cramer, spoke about the development.
Cramer outlined MicroStrategy as a leader in terms of bitcoin adoption since it started accumulating massive portions in August 2020 and predicted that others would follow. Furthermore, when asked if he would agree to receive his salary in BTC, he answered:
“Yes, absolutely I would! I think it’s a strong hold of value. This is a $2 trillion market maybe going to $3 trillion.”
Cramer further explained that he “may even demand” receiving his payments in bitcoin even if he was unable to transfer back to USD.
It’s worth noting that Cramer hasn’t always been advocating for bitcoin. Back in 2018, during the year-long bear market when bitcoin dipped beneath $4,000, the Mad Money host called it an “outlaw currency.”
However, he did a complete U-turn in 2020, saying that the pandemic and the stimulus packages that followed had changed his perspective on the primary cryptocurrency. Since then, he has repeatedly highlighted its benefits and even bragged about buying during some price dips.
Arguably the most important news coming this week from the crypto space is tomorrow’s direct listing of the largest US-based crypto exchange Coinbase.
Cramer connected the listing and MicroStrategy’s news, saying that both developments mean that people “got to buy Coinbase when that deal comes, even though it’s a $100 billion deal.”
Later on, Cramer tweeted that he was working on a Coinbase piece. Nevertheless, he added that he is a “big believer in crypto and I liked what I heard about Coinbase, but there is a price not worth paying, so please let’s be careful and not ignore that there is a limit to what will work here.”
