Veteran investor Mark Mobius told CNBC today that “cryptocurrencies are more like a religion than investments”. He said that investing in cryptocurrencies was a good way to have fun, but that stocks were the real option.
Another voice joins the likes of JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, and the heads of traditional finance and government institutions around the world such as Janet Yellen, Christine Lagarde and other various bank officials.
Mobius made the following statement to CNBC:
“People should not look at these cryptocurrencies as a means to invest. It’s a means to speculate and have fun. But then you got to go back to stocks at the end of the day,”
He made a reference to inflation as one of the factors for not investing into cryptocurrencies, saying:
“Stocks definitely are the answer because the devaluation of currency is not going to go away, which means inflation is going to continue at a high rate going forward,” he said. “Don’t forget the U.S. money supply has gone up over 30%.”
His sentiments on cryptocurrencies echo those of Jamie Dimon, who recently said that Bitcoin was “worthless” and it was “fool’s gold”.
It certainly cannot be argued that both Mobius and Dimon haven’t done well in their respective fields. However, it also needs to be taken into account that both have interests to protect in traditional finance, and the rise of cryptocurrencies is possibly ruffling some feathers.
Mobius’ belief that there is huge potential in the US stock market, while it is at all-time highs and has been so for so many years now, could certainly be considered to be a rather risky one.
Perhaps on the day that dynamic and bright young minds start coming to a consensus and saying that cryptocurrencies are bad investments, then perhaps it is the time to sit up and listen.
However, when it’s just old investors who only know the trad financial system and just can’t get their heads around new technology, then there are perhaps ample reasons for a divergence of opinions.
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.
