Once a Bitcoin skeptic, billionaire investor Carl Icahn appears to have made a U-turn on crypto, saying that he is looking to get involved in the digital assets space “in a big way.”
Boasting a net worth of $22 billion, Icahn is one of Wall Street's most influential players, with many investors following his lead and buying into the businesses he sets sights on. He also briefly served as former President Donald Trump's special economic advisor on financial regulation in 2017.
“A big way for us would be a billion dollars, a billion-and-a-half dollars," the chairman of Icahn Capital told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. "I'm not going to say exactly."
Back in 2018, Icahn claimed he didn’t like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, calling them “ridiculous.” “Maybe I’m too old for them,” he said at the time, “but I wouldn’t touch that stuff.”
The 83-year-old investor has since changed his tune amid the “tremendous amount” of fiscal stimulus over the past year. “Investors [are starting] to get concerned about the value of our currency,” he said, adding that cryptocurrencies may offer an alternative.
Icahn turns the crypto corner
The billionaire has nonetheless warned that a good chunk of cryptocurrencies may not stand the test of time.
“I’m looking at the whole business and how I might get involved in it,” Icahn said, adding that skeptics who say that cryptocurrencies have no intrinsic value are a "little wrong-headed."
In recent months, other high-profile investors have indicated their willingness to explore cryptocurrencies as well. Howard Marks, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management, who earlier this year admitted that while he is “not yet informed enough to form a firm view on cryptocurrencies,” he was still striving to learn.
This week Ray Dalio made headlines for announcing that he held “some” Bitcoin at Consensus, CoinDesk’s annual crypto conference.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
Shares of electric vehicle maker Volcon soared nearly 135% on Thursday after the company announced that it would raise $500 million to kick-start a Bitcoin treasury, joining a growing number of firms building BTC treasuries as a major component of their corporate strategies.
The firm has entered into an agreement to sell 50,142,851 shares of its common stock at $10 per share through a private placement, according to the statement. The firm will use 95% of the roughly $500 million it raises to b...
Publicly traded firm Bit Origin, which is focused on Bitcoin mining infrastructure and investments, is raising $500 million to buy leading meme coin Dogecoin (DOGE) as it builds its own digital assets treasury.
The firm entered into agreements to sell up to $400 million in Class A ordinary shares, as well as up to $100 million in convertible debt.
“Bit Origin is evolving beyond mining infrastructure to engage directly in the value and utility of digital assets,” said Bit Origin Chairman Jinghai...
Canary Capital applied for a staked Injective exchange-traded fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, further evidence of issuers efforts to address growing demand for altcoin-focused investment products.
The fund, if approved, would enable investors to track the price of layer-1 blockchain Injective's native token, in addition to staking the altcoin. Staking is a process by which cryptocurrency holders "lock up" their assets to secure a network...
