[2019-09-23] CEO of largest alternative investment firm vows not to buy bitcoin

[bbc.reporter]

I shake my head that as a CEO of the world's largest alternative investment firm, Stephen Scharzman does not understand bitcoin after all the years. He might be hiring the wrong advisors hehe.

In any case, this might be good because it might be a sign that it is the beginning of a blockchain season that might begin another altcoin season hehehehe.



The billionaire CEO of alternative investment firm Blackstone says he loves blockchain, but will never invest in Bitcoin.

Stephen Schwarzman tells Fortune he’s not interested in Bitcoin or crypto assets, saying he doesn’t know why they’re necessary.

Schwarzman says he doesn’t get why anyone would want or need a currency that’s not controlled by governments and banks, and he’s concerned about Bitcoin’s use among criminals.

As for blockchain as a whole, Schwarzman says he’s a believer in the technology and expects his firm will invest in many blockchain-related projects.

“There’s all kinds of uses you can have from certain executions. [Blockchain technology] is a very good idea, and it will end up being adopted because it’s good technology. Applying it to the creation of money is sort of, for my taste, pretty odd.”

Blackstone has been under Schwarzman’s leadership since it was founded in 1985.

As the world’s largest alternative investment firm, it has over 800 subsidiaries around the world, according to an SEC list dated December of 2017. It now has $472 billion in assets under management, operating out of New York and specializing in private equity, credit and hedge fund investment strategies.

Read in full https://dailyhodl.com/2019/09/22/ceo-of-worlds-largest-alternative-investment-firm-vows-never-to-buy-bitcoin/

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[gentlemand]

That's a very quaint set of beliefs he has. A wonderful blast from the past.

I reckon he'll be back in nappies before an investment in 'blockchain' ever turns a profit, let alone repays an investor. Good luck to him all the same.

[cr1776]

...

Schwarzman says he doesn’t get why anyone would want or need a currency that’s not controlled by governments and banks, and he’s concerned about Bitcoin’s use among criminals.
...

Just ask the people of Venezuela, Cyprus, China, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Turkey, Iran and Argentina recently and Cuba, North Korea, Germany, etc in the past if you want to understand why one might want to have a currency not controlled by governments and banks.  Plus transportable across borders.

[1Referee]

It's quite funny how these CEO's are so loud against Bitcoin, yet do the complete opposite and explore what the opportunities are that this market presents.

Just wait for it, when the price breaks through its current all time high levels their clients will beg for Blackstone to buy them into Bitcoin's exposure, be it through futures or other forms. Not having exposure to Bitcoin in current time and day is just stupid. If not, then some other institution will take their place and reap the fruits of being smart and adaptive.

---

https://twitter.com/btcven/status/1175557877894909953

$229.47 USD (~₿0.022547 BTC) bought non-cook pasta for a whole week to help feed ~1200 people who eat in the soup kitchen daily

Another ₿0.022547 BTC bought:

- bleach, laundry powder for the special care center

- fruits, vegetables, ribs, pasta, eggs for elderly women center

Bitcoin is actually being utilized already for Venezuelans. Give that account a follow and consider donating.

[veleten]

same old song by the investment companies
love the "bitcoin is used by criminals " stories coming from them , when fiat is used  10000000:1 ratio in shady and criminal deals
this guy sounds like a dinosaur of the investors , but  probably announcing one thing publicly and then holding thousands of coins through offshore or relatives
but thanks for publicity anyways , even bad pr is a good pr sometimes

[BitHodler]

Talking about how useless Bitcoin is or that it will go down to zero no longer has any effect as the price has been silencing critics for years now. It actually works against them because of that.

Even the most average person by now must have noticed how the price didn't go to zero, but hovers around levels that Bitcoin wouldn't ever be able to break according to the nocoiner bears. Come up with something new....

On the other hand, no matter how negative news may seem, it still means that Bitcoin is being talked about worldwide, especially when these high level CEOs open their mouth.

[gentlemand]

I'd be curious to know how responsive these places are to customer demands or requests.

Are they expected to sit there and swallow every decision laid out for them or is there quite a bit of back and forth?

There'll come a time where statements like this will hinder your credibility and business.

[buwaytress]

Power to the CEO and power to everyone who decides what they want or don't want to do. Works for me every time someone from that side of the establishment don't want to play on this side, and that's how it should be.

If any of those investors want to get their own Bitcoin to be part of their own alternative investment, they're welcome to do so on their own. That's kind of the beauty and the point of Bitcoin.

[hatshepsut93]

Blockchain not Bitcoin? What year is it, 2017? It's understandable how people could have believed in this in the past, when there was a lot of hype and altcoins had powerful marketing teams behind them, but today, after all these years of blockchain failing to produce anything, I just don't get how people could seriously believe in that.

[gentlemand]

I just don't get how people could seriously believe in that.

Investing in 'blockchain' is no different to any other VC crap other than the fact that you are 100% guaranteed to set your money on fire rather than 99.8%. Investing in a real live crypto is awful scary doncha know.

It's a get out clause. You look vaguely hip without having to actually nail your colours to the mast.

[Naida_BR]

I think that those people who make such statements doesn't have any clear indicators for making those predictions.
They just state an opinion due to their investment decisions that have been made in the past. For example, as the CEO states that it would be an altcoin season, he is probably long on altcoins.

[Harlot]

This has been the view of a lot of big companies ever since Bitcoin become head of the news, all they see is the technology running it but not the asset itself. Since Blockchain is a free technology and no one owns it this big companies exploited it and tried to create one of their owns and now you will see a lot of patent wars because of them creating their own versions of it. Stephen Scharzman is not alone on viewing cryptocurrencies like this he isn't the first one to take advantage of it. But I personally end up seeing this as an acceptable reason on why they are not interested in the crypto market since they already know the risk and billionaires like him are not really in for it like Warren Buffet who is always open in his views about Bitcoin as an investment.

[cr1776]

I just don't get how people could seriously believe in that.

Investing in 'blockchain' is no different to any other VC crap other than the fact that you are 100% guaranteed to set your money on fire rather than 99.8%. Investing in a real live crypto is awful scary doncha know.

It's a get out clause. You look vaguely hip without having to actually nail your colours to the mast.

Exactly. And I'd also add that a block chain in its own isn't worth a lot if the block chain isn't secured enough by something of value that helps to preclude it being rewritten in a reorganization.  The value of bitcoin helps secure the bitcoin block chain due to POW costs.

Block chain alone, without value is not worth a lot.

[figmentofmyass]

Exactly. And I'd also add that a block chain in its own isn't worth a lot if the block chain isn't secured enough by something of value that helps to preclude it being rewritten in a reorganization.  The value of bitcoin helps secure the bitcoin block chain due to POW costs.

there could be some value in distributing consensus among a federation of validators rather than depending on a single trusted authority like traditional systems. this can obviously be done at exponentially lower cost than POW, with the obvious caveat that it's much less secure because trust is involved. so maybe there is some middle ground. i'm not sure.

the mining incentive in bitcoin reflects the value of the underlying money supply. perhaps there are use cases where businesses/consortiums don't need the type of security that a $180 billion market cap entails.

[milewilda]

same old song by the investment companies
love the "bitcoin is used by criminals " stories coming from them , when fiat is used  10000000:1 ratio in shady and criminal deals
this guy sounds like a dinosaur of the investors , but  probably announcing one thing publicly and then holding thousands of coins through offshore or relatives
but thanks for publicity anyways , even bad pr is a good pr sometimes

When i do hear out this classic line that "bitcoin is being used in crime" -I do said to my self on here we go again.Do these people never ever learn?
They can shout all they can but we wouldnt know that these fellas are actually accumulating behind.They would make a u-turn if things goes well on crypto
telling that they might consider on adopting it. lol.

[UNOE]

And all this time I thought blackstone was pro bitcoin.
Shows what I know about these firms who are buying up all the bitcoin like grayscale and now those who are using bakkt.

[bbc.reporter]

Exactly. And I'd also add that a block chain in its own isn't worth a lot if the block chain isn't secured enough by something of value that helps to preclude it being rewritten in a reorganization.  The value of bitcoin helps secure the bitcoin block chain due to POW costs.

there could be some value in distributing consensus among a federation of validators rather than depending on a single trusted authority like traditional systems. this can obviously be done at exponentially lower cost than POW, with the obvious caveat that it's much less secure because trust is involved. so maybe there is some middle ground. i'm not sure.

the mining incentive in bitcoin reflects the value of the underlying money supply. perhaps there are use cases where businesses/consortiums don't need the type of security that a $180 billion market cap entails.

However, it might be similar to Ripple. Who decides if someone can be a validator or not? In Ripple, it is the people in the company behind Ripple that decides who is included in their federation of validators.

[gentlemand]

Since Blockchain is a free technology and no one owns it this big companies exploited it and tried to create one of their owns and now you will see a lot of patent wars because of them creating their own versions of it. Stephen Scharzman is not alone on viewing cryptocurrencies like this he isn't the first one to take advantage of it. But I personally end up seeing this as an acceptable reason on why they are not interested in the crypto market since they already know the risk and billionaires like him are not really in for it like Warren Buffet who is always open in his views about Bitcoin as an investment.

It is of course his opinion and he's welcome to it but I find it very strange that anyone that's ever gone anywhere near the tech world isn't thinking about the miserable and risible failure of intranets vs the internet when it comes to 'blockchain' vs any system secured by a proper cryptocurrency.

Even if it made me sad no way would I discount the option that's being worked on by the most skilled people that clearly will have some sort of future no matter what. A two year old with a head injury can point to most 'blockchain' being DOA.

[Lucius]

I shake my head that as a CEO of the world's largest alternative investment firm, Stephen Scharzman does not understand bitcoin after all the years. He might be hiring the wrong advisors hehe.

What is weird in fact that a man who has been sitting in the same chair for 35 years does not want any new risk for the company? I do not believe he does not understand Bitcoin, very likely he considers it too high risk, and fiat is working for him just fine. People like him or Buffett are servants of the old system, that system made them rich, it allowed them to have the power, why change it?

In any case, this might be good because it might be a sign that it is the beginning of a blockchain season that might begin another altcoin season hehehehe.

I do not understand the link between Scharzman "I will never invest in Bitcoin" to "beginning of a blockchain season" which will result with "another altcoin season"?

[cr1776]

Exactly. And I'd also add that a block chain in its own isn't worth a lot if the block chain isn't secured enough by something of value that helps to preclude it being rewritten in a reorganization.  The value of bitcoin helps secure the bitcoin block chain due to POW costs.

there could be some value in distributing consensus among a federation of validators rather than depending on a single trusted authority like traditional systems. this can obviously be done at exponentially lower cost than POW, with the obvious caveat that it's much less secure because trust is involved. so maybe there is some middle ground. i'm not sure.

the mining incentive in bitcoin reflects the value of the underlying money supply. perhaps there are use cases where businesses/consortiums don't need the type of security that a $180 billion market cap entails.

However, it might be similar to Ripple. Who decides if someone can be a validator or not? In Ripple, it is the people in the company behind Ripple that decides who is included in their federation of validators.

In which case it is a centralized coin that can be pressured to behave a particular way. Might as well have a centralized database.