Jim Cramer Dumps Half of His Bitcoin Stash to Pay Off Mortgage

Cramer, the host of CNBC's Mad Money and founder of TheStreet.com, has paid off his mortgage after selling half of his Bitcoin.

“I bought a lot of Bitcoin at $12,000,” Cramer said on Thursday when appearing on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street. “I know people would be angry at me, but I just paid my mortgage with it!”

Cramer specified neither the exact amount of Bitcoin he sold nor how much he made off the sale; however, last month he said he bought as much as $500,000 worth of cryptocurrency.

Earlier this week, Bitcoin soared to a new all-time high above $64,000, before pulling back below $61,000 on Friday morning after Turkey’s central bank announced it would ban crypto payments by the end of the month.

According to Cramer, the price chart might suggest it was only natural for him to sell at these levels, but to the former Goldman Sachs broker the point of the story comes down to the fact of his mortgage being paid off—with “phoney money paying for real money.”

“I now own a house—lock, stock, and barrel—because I bought this currency. I think I won!” said Cramer.

The TV celebrity first revealed that he bought Bitcoin in December 2020, stressing the importance of diversifying investment portfolios.

Following Tesla’s $1.5 billion Bitcoin purchase earlier this year, Cramer suggested “it’s almost irresponsible” for companies not to include cryptocurrency on their balance sheet.

The CNBC host, however, warned against investing big in Bitcoin—he prefers a traditional approach. Crypto should only be a “piece of the puzzle” for investors, he said.

Cramer is not the first high-profile personality to announce the sale of their Bitcoin holdings. Last year, the likes of Barstool Sports’ president Dave Portnoy and Hedgeye Risk Management CEO Keith McCullough ditched their crypto investments—even though to some of them it came at a loss.