Innocent BenjaminAn investment of this magnitude could significantly boost the ailing crypto universe.
Legendary American businessman and well-known skeptic of cyroto, Carl Icahn, has apparently changed his position on the assets as revealed in a recent discourse. During an interview for Bloomberg Markets, Icahn hinted at a potential investment of up to $1.5 billion in the sector, an amount that will pump fresh gusts of air to the convalescent cryptosphere.
Therefore, Carl Icahn shares the stance of Stanley Druckenmiller, Paul Tudor Jones and, most recently, Ray Dalio on this new asset class. Icahn believes that the cryptocurrency boom is a “natural manifestation” of the current macroeconomic landscape and its inflation. With these economic circumstances, investors are looking for new stores of value outside of the US dollar.
Like Dalio, Icahn fears the dollar is headed for depreciation and could potentially lose its reserve current status if the Federal Reserve “keeps printing money.” Carl Icahn claimed that he is “not yet an investor” but disagrees with critics of these assets and finds as much value in a cryptocurrency as in the US dollar.
He said, “The only value of the dollar really, is because you can use it to pay taxes.”
“Bitcoin and Ethereum Here to Stay”
When asked about the specific use cases between Bitcoin, commonly perceived as the store of value, and Ethereum, the ecosystem for decentralized applications, Carl Icahn seemed well informed. The legendary investor was able to bring a unique point of view, often not heard from someone in traditional finance. He said:
ETHEREUM IS THE UNDERLYING BLOCKCHAIN. SO ETHEREUM HAS TWO THINGS THAT YOU CAN USE AS A PAYMENT SYSTEM, YOU CAN USE STORE OF VALUE. SO YOU NEED ETHEREUM, THE BLOCKCHAIN, TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING.
YOU HAVE NEVER HAD THAT BEFORE WHERE YOU CAN BUY A CRYPTOCURRENCY AND YOU CAN SAY “I’M SURE” BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE BLOCKCHAIN THAT MAKES IT VERY SAFE FOR YOU. I AM OVERSIMPLIFYING.
Icahn believes that this is what provides cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, with “great value” in contrast with their fiat counterpart. However, he reiterated that the top two cryptocurrencies are “different.”
While Bitcoin is “just a store of value”, Ethereum is “a kind of value-added company,” before pointing out that dubbing it a company was inaccurate.
When asked if he was looking to invest specifically in either of these two cryptocurrencies, he replied:
“I am looking at the whole business and how I could get involved in it in a relatively large way.”
Later, Carl Icahn bullishly asserted that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and clarified that going into a business in a big way could lead to an investment between the ranges of $1 billion, $1.5 billion or more. He seemed more optimistic about Ethereum and as a final thought, opined that all cryptocurrencies are unlikely to survive. This has led many to speculate that Icahn is already a crypto investor. An anonymous MacroScope Analyst said the following about this possibility:
TWO THINGS BASED ON DECADES OF WATCHING ICAHN: YOU WILL HEAR MORE WHEN HE HAS A FULL POSITION… MUCH MORE (AND VERY LOUD), AND THAT POSITION WILL ACTUALLY BE A FULL POSITION. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPACT THIS HAS ON LEGACY PMS / MERCHANTS, ESPECIALLY IN NEW YORK WHERE ICAHN IS ADORED.
The last time an investment of this magnitude was made into the sector was by Elon Musk’s Tesla, who bought $1.5 billion worth of BTC. In the hours following this action, the flagship cryptocurrency gained 14 percent in value to push it to new highs. A similar trajectory is being envisaged by experts.
Ethereum is trading at $2,557 with a drop of 4.95 percent on the weekly chart and a loss of 6.41% on the daily chart. The monthly chart has a net change bordering around 1 percent and appears to have enough conviction to attempt to move towards the $3,000 mark. A successful move into this area could determine the fate of ETH price action in the near term.
James steller
