At the time of writing, bitcoin – the world’s number one digital currency by market cap – is worth roughly $11,300. However, according to some – such as Michael O’Leary of Ryanair fame – the price of the asset should be a big, fat zero.
Michael O’Leary Isn’t Crazy About Bitcoin
As we have seen time and time again, BTC doesn’t have the ability to entice everyone. While many see it as a revolutionary tool that can potentially give many unbanked people access to financial tools that they otherwise would never be able to take advantage of, some see BTC as a fraud or a scam of some kind. A Ponzi scheme that should be ignored or done away with completely.
Michael O’Leary is one of those people. As the chief executive of Ryanair, he recently gave an interview expressing his thoughts on the asset and cryptocurrency in general. His biggest issue is that he doesn’t consider the currency to be a sound investment. The price of BTC is still very up and down. He’s concerned anyone who invests in bitcoin is at risk of potentially losing all their money without warning.
But for O’Leary, the concern is far more personal. Recently, a bitcoin scam known as Bitcoin Lifestyle used his likeness and a fake endorsement by him to promote itself to unsuspecting victims. O’Leary seems to have taken the incident hard, and now associates all bitcoin and cryptocurrencies with fraudulent activity or phony marketing schemes.
He states:
I have never, and would never, invest one cent in bitcoin, which I believe is equivalent to a Ponzi scheme… I would strongly advise everyone with any shred of common sense to ignore this false story and avoid bitcoin like a plague.
O’Leary’s words seem to be reminiscent of those uttered by Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway fame. Buffett has never been a big bitcoin fan. In fact, he’s often referred to it as a fraudulent investment or in other very derogatory terms, and despite getting a new phone containing cryptocurrency as a gift from TRON founder and CEO Justin Sun, it doesn’t look like the real estate mogul’s vision of bitcoin or its altcoin cousins is likely to change anytime soon.
Some Haters Become Fans
In May of last year, Buffett stated the following about bitcoin:
It’s a gambling device. There’s been a lot of fraud connected with it. There have been disappearances, so there’s a lot lost on it. Bitcoin hasn’t produced anything. It doesn’t do anything. It just sits there. It’s like a seashell or something, and that is not an investment to me.
While O’Leary and Buffett appear hellbent on sending bitcoin to its grave, others – such as JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon – started out as haters, yet eventually warmed to cryptocurrency and even sought to create their own digital coins.
