O’Leary mentioned that inflation in the U.S. reached its highest point in 40 years in January, after prices rose 7.5% in 2021. This suggests that those who save in cash are being taxed by it. He said that regulators need to be cautious about raising rates because they could push the economy into a recession.
O’Leary addressed bitcoin and said that the price of the most popular cryptocurrency could soar if institutional investors are allowed to enter the market. According to O’Leary, regulators in the U.S. will “rule on cryptocurrency” at some point “in two to three years”. The first cryptoassets to be regulated are stablecoins (BTC) and BTC.
O’Leary said that once that happens, sovereign wealth funds and other institutions “going to alloc to it probably one or three percent”, which would generate such a demand that Bitcoin could reach $300,000. He stated:
Bitcoin will reach $100,000, $300,000.00, if institutions are able to buy it.
The celebrity investor pointed out that institutions must meet Environmental, Social, and Governance standards (ESG) before they can invest with the cryptocurrency’s flagship. ESG standards are standards that socially conscious investors use to evaluate a company’s operations.
O’Leary stated that, despite all the hype around cryptocurrencies like BTC and sovereign wealth funds, many institutions don’t have a single coin and won’t until their compliance departments permit the ESG mandates to be “check the box on this” and be compliant with the asset class.
He reiterated that when institutions move in, the “price” of the coin will appreciate dramatically. CryptoGlobe reported O’Leary said late last year that he has more crypto than gold and an interest In Solana and Polygon.
Several companies including MicroStrategy and Tesla, Block, Marathon Digital Holdings and KPMG Canada added the most popular cryptocurrency to their balance sheets. A few investment funds have also added BTC exposure through Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
