Billionaire Carl Icahn Eyeing $1.5 bn Investment In Crypto

US Billionaire businessman Carl Icahn joins other heavyweights like Ray Dalio, Stanley Druckenmiller, Paul Tudor Jones, who have recently been attracted to the Cryptocurrency. Icahn described the development and growth of cryptocurrencies as a ‘natural manifestation’ of today’s economy. Several investors have started turning their backs on the dollar as they search for better stores of value.

Icahn showed concern about the dollar’s current status explaining that it was seemingly set to depreciate, and it could end up losing its hegemony status as the reserve currency. Icahn was keen to admit that he didn’t consider himself an expert in the crypto industry.

Carl Icahn claimed he is “not an investor yet” but disagrees with the critics of these assets and finds as much value in a cryptocurrency as in the U.S. dollar. He said: “The only value of the dollar really is because you can use it to pay taxes”.

"While I don't now own cryptocurrency but I think there could be something to it."

Icahn Perceives Bitcoin and Ethereum Differently

The billionaire cited one instance where the US dollar edged cryptocurrencies, i.e., tax, as the former’s value lies in paying taxes. Asked about his take on Bitcoin and Ether, he threw his weight behind the latter, citing more use cases. He argued that the two were distinct. Bitcoin, in his opinion, is only practical as a store of value, whereas Ether can be used as a store of value and as a payment item.

Ethereum is the underlying blockchain. So, Ethereum has two things you can use as a payment system or you can use the store of value. So, you need Ethereum, the blockchain, to assure you that you have something. You never had that before where you can buy a cryptocurrency and you can say, “I’m safe” because you have the blockchain makes it very safe for you. I’m oversimplifying.

Icahn Wants a Big Piece of the Crypto Pie

When quizzed if he was considering getting into either of the cryptocurrencies, he responded that he was looking to do it in a big way.

“I’m looking at the whole business. I’m not looking at what to buy necessarily at this time. I’m just looking at the whole business and how I might get involved in it with Icahn Enterprises in a relatively big way because I do think it’s here to stay in one form or another.”

Asked about the specific dollar amount, either in hundreds of millions or billions, Icahn said: "A big way for us, you know, a billion dollars, billion and a half dollars, something like that. That would be sort of a big way, I guess, for us. But sometimes we go bigger than that, sometimes a lot smaller, so I'm not going to say exactly."