It’s ‘almost irresponsible’ not to own Bitcoin: investing star Jim Cramer

Former hedge fund manager and host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” Jim Cramer said investing in Bitcoin isn’t just acceptable, it’s the responsible thing to do.

During an interview during CNBC’s Squawk Box show published on Feb. 9, Cramer explained how he views Bitcoin as an asset. 

“I own Bitcoin. I’ve owned it for some time,” Cramer said. “It’s an alternative to a cash position, where you make absolutely nothing… As a way to have a pastiche of things that you should use your cash with, I’m all for it.” 

Calling owning Bitcoin “exciting,” he added: 

“I think it’s almost irresponsible not to include [Bitcoin.]”

That said, Cramer did warn corporate treasurers that it would be a good idea to hedge the volatile cryptocurrency.

Cramer’s openness to Bitcoin is not exactly new. As Modern Consensus reported in early January, at the time he said that Bitcoin is a legitimate asset that he personally invested in and then sold enough of it to cover the position’s cost and continue the trade risk-free. According to a December 2020 interview with The Street, the Mad Money host bought the coin after its price went under $18,000, but he has not revealed how much he bought.

Cramer talked about Bitcoin when discussing the recent Tesla adoption of it. Yesterday, it was reported that the full-electric carmaker has bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin and started accepting it as a means of payment for the vehicles it produces—giving BTC its largest-ever one-day increase. 

Enthusiasm about Bitcoin is becoming increasingly widespread among traditional finance’s heavyweights. As Modern Consensus reported yesterday, The Miller Opportunity Trust—the hedge fund of Wall Street star Bill Miller—got the go-ahead to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. The entire fund was worth $2.25 billion at the end of 2020, and could allocate up to 15% to Bitcoin.

Also, in late January asset management firm CCB International Securities sold one-third of its gold holdings in exchange for Bitcoin, setting it at 5% of the fund’s total value. The firm’s portfolio director said that such investments are “a widely accepted asset class now in the portfolio.”