BUY BITCOIN
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee appeared on CNBC’s Fast Money show yesterday to weigh in on the ‘battle’ between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Despite efforts by the shows presenters to illicit a partisan response from Lee, the ‘general’ remained diplomatic in his answers.
Lee Steers Conversation Away From Community Infighting
Even though the title of the segment is ‘in the battle between bitcoin and bitcoin cash, Tom Lee says buy bitcoin’, Lee spent very little time addressing any conflict between the Bitcoin community. When the presenter referred to him as a ‘general’ in the ‘battle’, Lee looked bemused. He responded to a question about which to buy diplomatically:
“I prefer not to pick winners and losers when we’re looking at cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin/Bitcoin Cash… Both have merits but if I was putting new money to work today… I would be a lot more interested in buying a lagger that could attract inflows rather than something that’s potentially overbought.”
He addressed the issue of Bitcoin Cash being overbought, stating the pending hard fork in BCH was likely driving the rising price seen in the asset over the last couple of days.
The Fundstat co-founder was then asked if he thought Bitcoin was acting as an indicator for the stock market. To this, the investor replied that he thought the two were casually connected at best.
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the show was when the conversation turned to adoption of cryptos by institutional investors. When asked if he thought more large money managers were ‘allowed’ exposure to BTC and other currencies, Lee responded:
“Every week that passes there’s further progress and further clarity. I think more clients are starting to be very serious about how they want to have exposure to this asset class… We’re having more conversations with people you’d never think would actually have an interest who want to talk about it.”
This lead to questions about the Goldman Sachs trading desk that’s penned to launch this summer. Lee affirmed that he believed the move by the investment bank was indicative of the digital asset class going more mainstream. He said that he felt that it was a sign that the space was maturing thanks to greater ‘clarity and custody’, as well as there being a lot of money to be potentially made. The interview concluded with Lee explaining the Bitcoin Misery Index to a panel more concerned with the fact that the acronym was the same as ‘body mass index.’
Tom Lee has long been bullish on Bitcoin and digital currencies generally. His recent price predictions state that there will be new all-time highs for BTC by the end of the year. He’s also claimed that each Bitcoin could be worth $55,000 by the year 2022.
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