American billionaire investor Seth Klarman has trashed crypto, saying that they represent an asset that could wind up being worthless. 

Wikipedia says that Klarman is “the chief executive and portfolio manager of the Baupost Group, a Boston-based private investment partnership he founded in 1982.” It also mention that “since his fund’s $27 million-dollar inception in 1982, he has realized a 20% compounded return on investment,” making him “the 15th highest earning hedge fund manager in the world.”

According to a report by Insider, Klarman said that he doesn’t see a point in cryptoassts, while lauding the value of gold amidst a looming recession. Klarman made his comments during a rare interview with Harvard Business School. 

Klarman took issue with investing in digital assets, saying that he “can’t see the point of crypto.” The billionaire compared crypto to “catnip for techies,” and questioned whether there was value in having so many different digital assets. 

He said, 

Why do people need 10 or 50 different cryptocurrencies? I don’t get it. I don’t think anybody needs to own it. It just seems to me that it could end up very much in tears.

The report also mentioned that Klarman suggested all digital assets could eventually end up being worthless. 

While Klarman was bearish on the outlook for crypto, he considers gold as being valuable in a crisis. He said that gold gave people reassurance of value in a tumultuous world, and that it was “prudent” to have gold being part of an investment portfolio.

Klarman continued, 

If the world turns to hell, the war expands and gets worse, God forbid a nuclear weapon is used, I think people are going to say: ‘How do I know what anything’s worth anymore? I’m going to make sure I have some gold because I don’t want to not have money at a time of desperation.’

Klarman made several more predictions, including saying that the dollar would remain the world’s reserve currency for the foreseeable future. The billionaire argued that it was “hard to imagine people” accepting Chinese currency or crypto as an alternative, with non-dollar currencies creating too many uncertainties. 

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