Although many remain wary of cryptocurrency, bitcoin has gained a wave of support in recent months – only in February, fintech Square and enterprise software company MicroStrategy purchased large additional bitcoin sums to add to their existing portfolios, while the company of electric cars Tesla added billions of dollars of currency to its balance sheet.
Among the bitcoin newbies is personal finance expert Suze Orman.
“I love bitcoin,” Orman told Yahoo Finance in an interview published on Friday. “I like the universality of it. I like it being there and the companies that are investing in it.”
But, clarifies Orman, she doesn’t see bitcoin as an alternative to fiat money – “I don’t like bitcoin as a currency. I don’t like where you’re going to buy a Tesla or something with. I like it as a possible replacement for gold, as an investment . “
And she is not alone in her thinking.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban recently discussed that bitcoin will be a store of value better than gold, and it sees its value as an asset rather than a currency.
“Bitcoin will not be a currency,” Cuban told Real Vision in an interview published on February 9. “It is a crypto-asset. It will not be a protection against the decree and the printing of many dollars.”
Orman, who also hosts a podcast called “Women & Money”, said he had “personally” invested in bitcoin through software company MicroStrategy.
“In June last year, I bought MicroStrategy for about $ 125 a share, right there, I believe,” she told Yahoo Finance, adding that her decision was made after hearing the company’s CEO speak. “I set it up and sold it, I think it was last week, for about $ 1,000 a share, because bitcoin was going up, but MicroStrategy [stock] it was falling. “
Despite his love for cryptocurrency, Orman warns: “[B]itcoin is seriously risky. I wouldn’t be investing in bitcoin with money I couldn’t lose. “
Orman recommends investing $ 100 a month in bitcoin, but only if it’s an amount you can lose.
Bitcoin has a current market value of around $ 897 billion, according to Coindesk, and as of 10:40 am EST on Friday, the cryptocurrency is trading at $ 48,087.22.
In all, “I happen to like bitcoin,” she told Yahoo Finance.
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