Once again, hedge fund billionaire and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is in the news. As always, he is lashing out a Bitcoin. One quality one cannot take away from Griffin is his outspokeness. He gave his view of virtual currencies – an opinion many crypto-asset investors will disagree with.

Interest In Bitcoin

While delivering a lecture recently at a CNBC conference last Wednesday in New York, Griffin said not none of his portfolio managers are approaching him, advising him to acquire bitcoins. Griffin encouraged young people to focus more on productive ventures than investing in Bitcoin. Taking a positive look at the technology underlying cryptocurrencies, Griffin said that blockchain technology may still have positive impact worldwide. He followed by saying he has yet to see that impact at the moment.

Previous Criticism

This is not the first time the head of Citadel criticized Bitcoin. When Bitcoin hit $19,500 last December, Griffin described the cryptocurrency boom as a fever with a bubble that will burst in no time. The 49-year-old philanthropist went farther to make disparaging remarks about Bitcoin, calling it a big fraud. With the recent criticisms, it is clear that Griffin’s position is not changing. This comes despite the inroads virtual currencies are incrementally making on the global financial services industry.

Moment Of Truth

In a similar interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin, a business journalist, the hedge fund billionaire admitted that he once thought of venturing in cryptocurrency, but on a second thought, he decided that crypto-assets are not the kind of investment he (Griffin) should show interest in. Buttressing his point, Griffin pointed out that he needs to have the US dollars to pay his taxes and not bitcoins. He adds that the mandatory payment of taxes in US dollars won’t change anytime soon.

Background Information

An investor whose networth hovers around $9 billion, Griffin hasn’t just become a mere outspoken critic of Bitcoin, but he is also one whose views shape the opinions of thousands, if not millions, of his protégés and would-be crypto-asset investors. In 1990, Griffin founded Citadel, a global investment fund whose investment capital is pegged at $25 billion (according to Wikipedia). Griffin made Forbes 2012 list of highest earning hedge fund managers in the world.

In a recent interview, Griffin confirmed that of every five stocks traded in the United States, one of them is traded through Citadel Securities every day. Citadel’s multi-strategy fund, also known as Wellington, reached 1.52% in June and increased to 8.79% in the second quarter of 2018.