David Sierra, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Algebris has given his opinion about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an interview with Sole 24 Ore; an Italian newspaper. He was of the opinion that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are illegal.
He started the article by giving analysis on the recent GameStop case. He was of the opinion that the war between the retail traders and the big investors made no sense as the retail traders sold heavily to combat the investors;
“This time it was the small day traders who taught the big investors a lesson. There was an insane amount of short selling on GameStop by some hedge funds, even more than 130% of the existing shares, which makes no economic sense. Somebody noticed this and the buying started, triggering a short squeeze.”
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Sierra went on to state that short selling isn’t a popular thing as it only came to light by some ‘corporate frauds’ in some country;
“In many cases, it was only thanks to the actions of a few bearish hedge funds that some recent corporate frauds – such as Wirecard in Germany or, on a smaller scale, Bio-On in Italy- came to light. In the case of GameStop, however, it is different: everyone was aware of the Company’s crisis situation, but it is inadmissible to allow the accumulation of short positions worth $2 billion on a company that is worth $1.5 billion.”
Sierra’s Take on Cryptocurrencies
With the increasing adoption of cryptocurrencies and attention the industry is getting, the Chief executive seems not to be fascinated at all. He stated clearly that cryptos are not recognized by Central banks and therefore they are illegal payment system;
“My opinion on cryptocurrencies is very simple: they are not currencies, they are an illegal payment system and not recognized by central banks and states. I would not recommend it to a private investor who cares about his investments also from an ethical point of view.”
Sierra is a leading expert in the financial service industry and he has always been against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies since as far back as 2017. He was said to have called Bitcoin a money laundering tool for criminals in a tweet he made in November 2017;
“Bitcoin is money laundering tool for criminals/tax cheaters that has been transformed in the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time with value of $160bn (ex Madiff) and I am amazed not a single regulator takes action. Just unbelievable.”
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