Traditionally, we’ll start with an explanation. One of the highlights in the digital currency world this week was JPMorgan CEO James Dimon’s criticism of Bitcoin. He called BTC useless and also questioned whether the maximum number of bitcoins would be equal to 21 million coins.

In response, the head of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Brian Armstrong noted that he had indeed tested this feature of the first cryptocurrency. The entrepreneur also made it clear that ignoring what’s happening in the finance niche today could have a bad effect on companies that do similar things. Read more about the story in a separate piece.

Which cryptocurrencies do billionaires like?

Barry Sternlicht said during the Squawk Box TV show that gold and cash have all but “depreciated” as the US government can afford to produce currency on an unlimited scale. The last time we saw this was against the backdrop of the popularisation of the coronavirus, when the central banks of various fears set about printing money to curb problems in the economy. The new money supply also went towards financial bailouts for citizens, some of whom invested the proceeds in Bitcoin in the process.

The BitcoinStimulus platform illustrates the correctness of this decision. It shows what the $1,200 received from the U.S. government would have become if it had been immediately converted into BTC on the accrual date of April 15, 2020. Today, the figure stands at $10,670.

$1,200 invested in Bitcoin on April 15, 2020

This is the reason Sternlicht is investing in Bitcoin. Here is his quote on the matter, in which the expert shares his attitude towards what is happening in the global economy. The replica is published in Cointelegraph.

Gold is as useless as silver. I mean, they have some industrial application, but they are secondary. The reason I own bitcoins is because the US government and many other governments in the western hemisphere are endlessly printing money.

Starwood Capital Group co-founder Barry Sternlicht

And so for a billionaire, cryptocurrency is first and foremost a tool to protect against the depreciation of the money supply. Such an idea seems great given Bitcoin's price performance. Over the past year, the cryptocurrency has risen in value by 419 per cent. At the same time, the figure is up 35 per cent in a fortnight.

Bitcoin’s price performance over different time periods

Bitcoin is good, but Sternlicht also likes Etherium. And judging by this quote, compared to BTC, altcoin does have huge potential.

Bitcoin is a dumb coin, it has no real purpose other than as a means of savings and is insanely unstable. So I also own Ether. It’s programmable Bitcoin, and many other coins are built on this system.

As a reminder, the Etherium blockchain is adapted to use smart contracts. This has made the cryptocurrency network home to the decentralised finance industry, unique NFT tokens and other hype items that have made the digital asset niche much more popular in recent years.

Billionaire Mark Cuban

Cuban supported Sternlicht’s point of view and noted that the major cryptocurrency is in any case better than gold. And that is indeed the case: over the past two years, BTC has delivered impressive returns that any other traditional asset cannot match.


This is especially noticeable on long stretches of time. For example, a dollar invested in BTC in the autumn of 2009 would be worth almost $77 million today, while a similar investment in gold would be worth only $1.73. Obviously, in this case, the precious metal did not protect investors from inflation, so in fact it only devalued the invested capital.

Comparison of Bitcoin and gold returns


We believe that any full-fledged cryptocurrency is ahead of conventional money in terms of limited supply, deflation mechanisms, fixed issuance rates and other trivialities. In this regard, criticism of Bitcoin is hardly necessary because BTC has become the first cryptocurrency for many investors anyway. In addition, the trend of various people - including billionaires - recognising the potential of digital assets is encouraging and hints at further positivity in the market.

That’s why now is the best time to start interacting with digital assets and sign up for our cryptochat. There, we will discuss other developments related to the blockchain and decentralisation industry.