Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed has joined a growing group of Bitcoin skeptics:
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed is joining the long line of skeptics saying bitcoin is a bubble as the digital currency continues to set record highs. "I just don't believe in this bitcoin thing. I think it's just going to implode one day. I think this is Enron in the making," Alwaleed told CNBC in an interview. "It just doesn't make sense. This thing is not regulated, it's not under control, it's not under the supervision" of any central bank, he said.
In his interview with CNBC, he said that the high price of Uber made Lyft a more attractive investment:
"We were in discussions with both Uber and Lyft, but when we evaluated both companies, we thought that Lyft is a better entry point for us. Because at that time, Uber's price was at a plateau of its highest height. So we invested in Lyft, and we have a very good relationship with .... the management," Alwaleed said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box. "But Uber still is a great company, obviously, and Uber is the company that began with this whole idea of shared rides. Our choice was to go with Lyft but it doesn't mean that Uber is not good."
Alwaleed, who runs Kingdom Holding, made his comments on the heels of a Wall Street Journal report that another Saudi fund, state-owned Public Investment Fund, was struggling to deal with a disappointing investment in Uber.
Kingdom Holdings is remaining invested in Twitter but has reduced its stake in Apple:
Alwaleed said he thinks Twitter's rivals are monopolies. But while he has wound down his stake in Apple, he said he doesn't agree with calls for more regulation on big tech. "Clearly, behemoth companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoft — these are giants," Alwaleed said. "We have seen a lot of voices in the United States where we need to regulate what's happening on Facebook, and to a lesser extent on Twitter. ...We've seen in the '90s and early 2000s they were trying to break up Microsoft and it failed completely. I think it's a free market, there should be free competition."
Also at Reuters.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @12:12PM (8 children)
Ha! Looky there, a way to quantify and exchange value without control (and in no relation with oil)... and the world doesn't collapse.
Seems like the regulation, control and supervision of currency are overrated, so what for the Saudis are needed?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @12:23PM (1 child)
bitcoin = time * ( electricity + silicon carbide\dioxide )
Gee I wonder who has lots of power and sand to spare other than China...
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 27 2017, @12:48PM
Yeah, but if he doesn't have faith in bitcoin not only he won't mine for them... but he's also an infidel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday October 27 2017, @02:08PM (4 children)
Dear Saudi Prints:
I predict the demise of oil.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday October 27 2017, @03:11PM
No such person at the address, return to sender.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday October 27 2017, @07:26PM (1 child)
> I predict the demise of oil.
I'll take that bet. what deadline and how much?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Friday October 27 2017, @08:23PM
Actually, what are the securities/derivatives that are positioned against oil and/or for alternative energies in a sector-wide way? Seems like that would be one long-term investment to consider.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by toddestan on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:09AM
Actually, one of the theories out there is that the Saudi's believe exactly that. They believe that in a few years they'll be sitting on a bunch of worthless oil, hence the reason they are pumping it out and selling it as fast as they can while it's still worth something.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 27 2017, @03:54PM
Cowrie shells, Tulip bulbs, sub-prime mortgages. All exchanged as a kind of currency without any central regulation. Has there ever been a commodity that *hasn't* bubbled when its market is left to the vagaries of collective human ignorance and greed?