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James Gorman, the Executive Chairman of Morgan Stanley, stated that buying Bitcoin is a purely speculative activity and downplayed the significance of the bank failures in the spring of last year. He also expressed optimism that the United States may not experience an economic recession this year.
Having served as the CEO of Morgan Stanley for 14 years, Gorman, who recently stepped down from the CEO position on January 1st, mentioned in an interview this week, "I never really saw the value of Bitcoin as a store of value." He continued, "I used to joke that I wish I bought it at $60, and I'm glad I didn't buy it at $60,000. It should play a very small role in the financial structure of wealthy people because it's so speculative, so unstable, and it has gone through significant regulatory changes and industry disruptions — we've recently seen some typical failures."
From March 2020 to November 2021, the price of Bitcoin surged approximately 12 times, from around $5,000 to over $60,000. By the end of 2022, this popular cryptocurrency temporarily dropped to below $17,000, but it rebounded to over $40,000 by the end of 2023.
In recent years, the cryptocurrency space has faced regulatory crackdowns and several scandals, including the dramatic downfall of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried.
Gorman remarked, "Listen, Bitcoin is not going away; it's not a fad. But I don't think it's a core investment. I think it's a speculative asset, and people have many choices in that regard."
Furthermore, the Wall Street veteran attributed the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Capital in March to poor management decisions and believed that concerns about a catastrophe across the entire industry were exaggerated.
He stated, "People kept telling me we were facing a banking crisis — no, we weren't, we were facing a crisis between three banks. It's not a crisis in the marketplace."
Gorman is also optimistic about the prospects of the U.S. economy, citing rapidly decreasing inflation, resilient output growth, and historically low unemployment rates.
He said, "We are unlikely to see a recession, and a hard landing is also unlikely." He added that he expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times in the latter half of this year to stimulate economic growth. |
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Post time 10-1-2024 21:17:44