Steve Cohen, owner of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, was a longtime skeptic of cryptocurrency. Then, during the 2021 boom, his “cryptomaniac” son changed Cohen's mind. “Once I decided there were opportunities, I wasn’t going to miss t
By Geoffrey Lyons
Published on Aug 2, 2024
Last modified on Aug 22, 2024
Steve Cohen, owner of hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, was a longtime skeptic of cryptocurrency. Then, during the 2021 boom, his “cryptomaniac” son . “Once I decided there were opportunities, I wasn’t going to miss this.” Cohen isn’t the first in his tax bracket to reverse course–it’s a conversion story that has played out time and time again.
“Crypto has been one of the greatest stories in finance over the course of the last 15 years.” (2022)
“Let’s face it, crypto is a jihadist call that we don’t believe in the dollar. What a crazy concept this is.” (2021)
Mark Cuban (Investor / TV personality)
“Crypto can make you a banker, allow friction-free exchange of value, and is extensible into an unlimited range of business and personal applications.” (2021)
"I'd rather have bananas. I can eat bananas. Crypto not so much." (2019)
Ray Dalio (Founder, Bridgewater)
“It’s an amazing accomplishment.” (2021)
“It’s not very good as a store-hold of wealth.” (2020)
Howard Marks (Co-founder, Oaktree)
“Nobody can steal it from you–it's better than an emerging market currency.” (2021)
“Digital currencies are nothing but an unfounded fad, or perhaps even a pyramid scheme.” (2017)
Larry Fink (CEO, BlackRock)
“Let’s be clear: Bitcoin is an international asset. It’s not based on any one currency and so it can represent an asset that people can play as an alternative.” (2023)
“Cryptocurrencies just identify how much money laundering there is in the world.” (2017)
Carl Icahn (Founder, Icahn Enterprises)
“Crypto is here to stay.” (2021)
“I think it’s ridiculous…. Maybe I’m just too old for it but I sure wouldn’t touch that stuff.” (2018)
What motivates these U-turns?
Market adoption
Continued retail demand makes emerging asset classes hard to ignore.
Institutional support
Developments like the BTC ETF frame crypto in the context of known business models.
Education
A deeper knowledge of blockchain facilitates an understanding of crypto as an investment.
Lindy effect
An asset’s past resilience is a sign of its future longevity.
Unrest
Concerns around inflation and geopolitical instability bolster the view that crypto can play a role in risk management.
Spotlight on Fink
Perhaps the most notable reversal is from Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock. In 2017, Fink called Bitcoin an “index of money laundering.” Since then his views have gradually softened, culminating in the SEC’s approval on January 10th of BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF. Fink now believes tokenization "eliminates all corruption”—a complete 180 if there ever was one.
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