Legendary investor Jim Rogers (pictured) predicts that Bitcoin (BTC) will disappear in the next few years, saying that is it not on governments’ best interest to let cryptocurrencies float around freely.
“If cryptocurrencies succeed as real money, rather than the subject of gambling as it is today, the government will make cryptocurrencies illegal and eliminate them”, says the co-founder of the Quantum Fund to Japanese online magazine Aera dot.
“The government wants to know everything. Controllable electronic money will survive, and virtual currencies beyond the influence of the government will be erased”, Rogers adds.
He says: “I believe that the virtual currency represented by Bitcoin will decline and eventually become zero.” However, the veteran investor makes it clear he thinks cryptocurrencies are a bubble and their value is mostly driven by speculation and gambling.
The performance of Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrencies as a whole during 2020 has been choppy, with the cryptomarket earning nearly $35bn in early May but then losing nearly $10bn in mid June, as the performance of crypto-assets becomes more correlated with traditional financial markets, exposing their value to similar swings related to money-printing from central banks and the overall course of the pandemic.
Rogers comments go against other highly successful investors like Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire founder of Tudor Investment fund, who thinks of Bitcoin as a great hedge against inflationary pressures caused by massive monetary stimulus and expansionary fiscal policies aimed to contain the economic fallout of the virus.
However, the Singapore-based investor concedes that Bitcoin has lasted longer than other cryptocurrencies, but he adds: “Many have already come and gone, so we’ll see”.
Rogers started his career on Wall Street by joining wealth management firm Dominick & Dominick but went on to found the Quantum Fund along with George Soros in 1973.
The fund managed to gain nearly 4200% for its investors vs. a shy 47% advance in the S&P500 from 1973 to 1980, gaining both Rogers and Soros a seat in Wall Street’s hall of fame.
After closing the fund in 1980, he retired and went on to become a regular guest in many financial talk shows around the world.
