“Bitcoin and any cryptocurrency at this point has not really established itself as a credible institutional investment,” Minerd said during his Bloomberg Television interview from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding that crypto became the market of “a bunch of yahoos.”
The CIO said that his fund bought Bitcoin at $20k and sold it when it was at $40k. Guggenheim Investment no longer holds the “digital gold” and would instead short it if asked to choose a position. Such a claim by Minerd showcases a significant shift in his opinion on cryptocurrencies. Less than two years ago, the investor believed that Bitcoin would surge to $400k, pointing out its scarcity and similarity to gold.
Now Scott Minerd seems to be greatly disappointed with the crypto market. “Most of these currencies, they’re not currencies, they’re junk,” he said. Minerd believes that Bitcoin and Ethereum will survive but adds that no one has seen the dominant player in crypto yet.
“If we were sitting here in the internet bubble, we would be talking about how Yahoo and America Online were the great winners. Everything else, we couldn’t tell you if Amazon or Pets.com was going to be the winner,” Minerd told CNBC, pointing out the parallels between the current crypto crisis and the dotcom crash in early 2000.