George Soros, Hungarian-American investor, business magnate, philanthropist, political activist and author, added a new feather to his cap as his company Soros Fund Management received approval to trade cryptocurrency. The company was founded in 1969 and is currently worth USD 26 billion.
This marks a change of heart for the magnate who, in January of this year, labelled cryptocurrencies a bubble, commenting that digital coins could never function as actual currencies due to their volatility. Since the billionaire’s comments earlier this year, Bitcoin has fallen 41%.
Soros is one of the world’s most successful investors. As of February 2018, Soros had a net worth of USD 8 billion, after donating USD 18 billion to his philanthropic agency, Open Society Foundations.
According to a recent article on Bloomberg, Adam Fischer, the macro investment manager of Soros Fund Management, had been given the go-ahead to begin trading cryptocurrencies although as yet, there is no official word on exactly when trading will commence.
The iconic hedge fund manager has a blistering track record of acquisitions and sales and always appears to be on the lookout for new stock, some of his biggest holdings being Facebook and Time Warner.
According to Bloomberg and despite his earlier comments, Soros has been indirectly backing cryptocurrency by amassing a stake in Overstock.com. In August of 2017, the company became the first major retailer to accept digital currencies and also planned to start its own cryptocurrency exchange.
The cryptocurrency market is increasingly under scrutiny from governments around the world. Central banks are currently investigating the risks as well as the obvious benefits of adopting the virtual currency. Earlier in the year, Soros commented on some of the risks, “As long as you have dictators on the rise you will have a different ending because the rulers in those countries will turn to Bitcoin to build a nest egg abroad”.
Given that Soros has long expressed doubt regarding the viability of cryptocurrencies, the recent announcement by the family office has been of great interest to industry pundits.
