Jim Cramer, the host of TV’s Mad Money program, says he has offloaded his Bitcoin holdings, citing various concerns surrounding the cryptocurrency.
The former Goldman Sachs trader told Squawk on the Street that China’s toughening stance toward cryptocurrencies as well as potential US regulation meant the investment was not worth it anymore.
“I sold almost all of my bitcoin,” Cramer said this week. “Don’t need it”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN3iPu_a7Hw?wmode=transparent&jqoemcache=s07Cc
Bitcoin has fallen about 50 per cent from its record high of $US65,000 ($A86,000) in April and Cramer says he doesn’t see it going back to those levels.
“I’m saying that this is not going up because of structural reasons,” he said.
While Cramer did not say how much he owned, he said he bought the digital currency when it was worth $US12,000 ($A16,000), which is what Bitcoin was trading at in 2019. He said he used the gains in his Bitcoin holdings to pay off his mortgage.
Bitcoin this week fell below $US30,000 ($A40,000) for the first time since January, the level that experts had feared would cause a run on the cryptocurrency. However, so far it has managed to stabilise around $US34,000 ($A45,000).
Cramer said China’s crackdown on cryptocurrency was only going to increase.
“When the PCR goes after something, they tend to have their way,” he said. “It’s not a democracy. It’s a dictatorship.”
“I think that they believe it’s a direct threat to the regime because what it is, is a system that’s outside their control,” he said.
Cramer also flagged potential regulation in the US, which has come under ransomware attacks, including on the Colonial Pipeline in April which led to gas shortages on the US east coast.
“In our country, I think it’s outside of our control when it comes to ransomware, and I doubt that Colonial is the first company to pay ransomware,” Cramer said. “I think the Justice Department and the FBI and the Federal Reserve and Treasury could coalesce and say, ‘OK guys, if you pay ransomware, we’re going to go after you.’”
It came after billionaire investor Mark Cuban said he had taken a hit from an investment in Titan cryptocurrency which dropped from $US60 to $US0 in a day.
The owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team and Shark Tank host said it was “my mistake” for not doing his homework on Titan.
Cuban has not disclosed the amount he lost in the crash but told Bloomberg that his investment “wasn’t so big that I felt the need to have to dot every I and cross every T.”
He has called for more regulation to “define what a stable coin is.”