Last month, Ricardo Salinas Pliego declared that 10% of his portfolio was allocated to bitcoin
Salinas is the founder of Grupo Salinas that focuses on financial services, media and telecommunications. He has an estimated net worth of over $13 billion that makes him the third richest person in Mexico. Overall, he was ranked the 110th richest person on the planet.
The billionaire confirmed via a Twitter post in mid-November that he had invested 10% of his liquid portfolio in Bitcoin.
“Bitcoin protects the citizens from government expropriation”, he said. He asked his followers to try reading ‘El Patron Bitcoin’, a book that he described as “the best and most important to understand Bitcoin”.
In an interview with CoinTelegraph, the Mexican businessman hailed Bitcoin as a viable investment calling it the best investment he has ever made. He explained that he first became aware of the asset in 2013 after hearing a Grayscale representative talk about it at a conference. Curious about the asset that was ‘going to take over’, he decided to give it a try.
Salinas was convinced that Bitcoin was only effective as a payment option at first. It dawned on him afterwards that crypto’s ability to be used as a “store of value made it valuable”. He set aside a small portion of his fund to invest in the digital asset. Bitcoin was exchanging hands at only $200 at the time. The investment rewarded him very well and since then he never looked back.
The media magnate divulged that when the Bitcoin price hit $17,000 at the beginning of 2017, he sold his entire Bitcoin stash, making a huge profit in the process.
“I had a big party. I was very happy with my best investment ever, but you know, we always return to the scene of the crime, right?”
He later bought Bitcoin when its price slumped to $10,000 and also when the price dropped even lower to $6,000. Salinas asserted that he wasn’t looking to sell his Bitcoin holdings any time soon as he plans on keeping it for the next five to ten years. He also applauded Grayscale Investments, through which he was introduced to the leading cryptocurrency.
“What I liked about Grayscale was that they simplified it—basically you put your money in the trust, then this trust would do the investment, they would take care of the whole thing.”