Bitcoin should be a part of any portfolio, says ex-president of NYSE

Bitcoin has become one of the most popular assets in the world, and a former president of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) believes it should be a part of any portfolio.

Former President of the New York Stock Exchange, Thomas Farley, revealed during an interview with CNBC Squawk Box that he believes Bitcoin should be a part of any portfolio.

Bitcoin is the world’s leading cryptocurrency and has gained massive adoption over the past few years. 

Farley, who is the current CEO of Far Point Acquisition Corp, said;

“When Bitcoin was at $60,000, you had a lot of institutions on the sideline who were looking and saying, ‘boy, we’d like to invest. We’d like to allocate 1% to 3% of our portfolios, pension funds, for example, but it’s $60,000. It feels toppy, there’s some mania.’ But they’ve done the diligence. They’ve met with their investment committees. And so, as it went down to $17,000, it wasn’t a shock to me that you saw some of those institutions stepping in for the very first time buy Bitcoin for their portfolio.”

Bitcoin’s volatility is one of the reasons why some institutions are hesitant about investing in the cryptocurrency. Farley commented that;

“I think it is a combination of some really smart Bitcoin whales that have been in it for 10 years, and then fairly quickly, some of those institutions stepping in that’s exactly what’s happened. Bitcoin is up 40%. That doesn’t mean it’s going to go up another 40%. But in crypto, there’s Bitcoin. And then there’s literally everything else. Bitcoin is trusted. It’s largely censorship-resistant. There will only and ever be 21 million Bitcoin. It will have to be a component and a portfolio of broad portfolios, like a pension fund. Maybe just to a small extent, but it will have to be there.”

Farley also praised other cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, which he believes is a special cryptocurrency. He said;

“Then there are all other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum is in a special class of its own.  Then there are stablecoins, and everything else looks like a speculative stock. Maybe if you invest in it you make money, maybe you lose all of your money.”

Bitcoin is trading above $24k per coin after losing more than 2% of its value over the last 24 hours.