Billionaire “Shark tank” investor Kevin O’Leary is calling on regulators to regulate crypto in the US because he says people don’t want to be like “cowboys” in the crypto sector.
O’Leary was interviewed on CNBC’s Capital Connection. As a user, he said that the Ethereum blockchain was just too slow, and that he was looking at other, emerging layer 1 blockchains that were much faster.
He talked about the Salt conference that is going to take place over the next couple of days. He said it would be about the future of decentralised finance (DeFi) and cryptocurrencies.
He said that despite the regulator displeasure at Coinbase’s bid to start a “lend” feature on its platform, the lending space was actually really interesting.
“People can take their cryptocurrencies and actually make interest. When the 10-year is making you less than inflation you start to look for alternatives, and that’s why stablecoins are becoming interesting.”
O’Leary stated that he wants regulators to start making decisions about crypto because those who work in financial services don’t want to be seen as “cowboys”, and get involved in crypto if the regulator then decides that it isn’t ok.
“I cannot afford to be offside. I cannot afford to be non-compliant”
He said that regarding Bitcoin, if the financial regulator allowed Bitcoin to be called an asset, and that if it was then put into an ETF in the US, Canada, and other countries, then he believes that there would be another trillion dollars entering into Bitcoin.
He believes that over the next couple of years this will happen, and there is a huge amount of interest in Bitcoin.
“All the institutions are coming to the conference to discuss this very topic. When and how will the regulators get on side, and when will we consider cryptocurrencies an institutional asset class? We don’t know when, but it is definitely going to come. It’s not going away.”
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
