Bitcoin has won over many from the traditional finance industry, but far more of the investment old guard remain wary of bitcoin and crypto.
The bitcoin price, which exploded in 2017 and thrust bitcoin and crypto into the global limelight, has for months been hovering around $10,000 per bitcoin–still almost half its all-time high of almost $20,000.
This week, Stephen Schwarzman, billionaire investor and chief executive of the world’s largest alternative investment firm, Blackstone, called blockchain “a sound, very interesting technology,” but branded bitcoin “pretty odd,” and vowed never to buy any.
Stephen Schwarzman, the chairman and chief executive of Blackstone, has said he would not want to buy bitcoin, calling the decision not to, “easy.”
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“I don’t have much interest in [bitcoin] because it’s hard for me to understand,” Schwarzman told Fortune, a business magazine.
Schwarzman, echoing comments made by U.S. president Donald Trump about bitcoin and crypto earlier this year, said government control over currencies allows control of “bad behavior”–which bitcoin “encourages.”
“That doesn’t mean that the blockchain technology applied to non-tradable currencies is not a good thing,” Schwarzman added.
“There’s all kinds of uses you can have from certain executions. [Blockchain technology] is a very good idea, and it will end up being adopted.”
Fears over a lack of control of bitcoin and decentralized cryptocurrencies have led the likes of social media giant Facebook to plan its own bitcoin-rival, called libra, scheduled for launch some time next year.
Retailer Walmart and bank Wells Fargo have also floated the idea of creating their own cryptocurrencies.
Schwarzman, who didn’t comment on Facebook’s libra plans, could be open to the idea of privately-created and control cryptocurrencies.
“If [cryptocurrencies] could solve that [criminal behavior] problem and also the problem of controlling the money supply, then it might be OK,” he said.
The bitcoin price has recovered much of its lost ground this year after a difficult 2018 but remains far from its all-time high of near $20,000 per bitcoin.
Coindesk
Schwarzman’s comments come ahead of what could be a key period for bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as the much-anticipated Bakkt crypto platform launches its physically-settled bitcoin futures contracts.
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