George Ball. Source: Reuters
It’s no secret that as time goes, more and more professionals from the world of traditional finance are making headway into Bitcoin. Or at least, showing support for investing in the New Gold. The latest amongst the growing list of mainstream supporters is George Ball, ex-CEO of the insurance giant Prudential.
In an interview with Fred Katayama of Reuters, Mr. Ball, who currently serves as the Chairman of the investment firm Sanders Morris Harris seemed to showcase a more positive stance towards Bitcoin. Previously, George was a hater of the world’s top cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
But now he thinks that Bitcoin makes for an attractive long-term investment. According to him:
“…it’s where many people will turn after Labor Day…” Ideally, as an investor, he would either want “to make a safe haven for my money or a short-term speculative bet.”
The ex-Prudential boss remarked that the current scenario in stock markets is boring, and the ‘liquidity flood’ is the only thing that’s keeping things afloat. But that will soon end.
Mr. Ball said that the continuous flurry of stimulus packages would eventually return to bite back the government, and added that:
“…the government can’t stimulate the markets forever. The liquidity flood will end. Sooner or later, the government’s got to start paying for them – some of these stimulus for some of the deficits, for some of the well-deserved, very smart subsidies that it’s providing to people.”
And if the money printing doesn’t end, the US Dollar will eventually head down the debasement road, which could corrupt reliable investment instruments like ‘treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS).’
Hence, he thinks that ‘traders and investors should realign their portfolios substantially,’ and allocate sections of their portfolios to Bitcoin. Why? Because BTC’s
“…something that can’t be undermined by the government, and it won’t become worthless…”
And that’s why wealthy traders and investors could probably turn to Bitcoin, as ‘there are no yields today.’
Before George Ball, back in May this year, billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones too advised investors to own positions in Bitcoin. He also announced that his fund would invest in a single-digit percentage of BTC futures.
As reported by Cryptopotato, Jones cited rising inflation rates induced by near-unlimited central bank money printing as the reason behind this move.
Buying BTC, he said, would insulate him from the potentially drastic consequences of ‘fiat flooding.’
Also, Paul noted that the Bitcoin market reminds him of the gold market during the 1970s. Drawing similarities between price actions of the two assets, Mr. Jones, commented that
“The best profit-maximizing strategy is to own the faster horse. If I am forced to forecast, my bet is it will be Bitcoin.”
