• bitcoinBitcoin$70,365.00-1.32%
  • ethereumEthereum$3,550.98-1.36%
  • elrond-erd-2MultiversX$61.340.34%

VC Investor and Reality TV Star Kevin O’Leary Claims Wall Street Investors Need to Know How Their BTC Is Mined

Not all bitcoins are worthy for institutional investors, said Kevin O’Leary, star of “Shark Tank,” who declared yesterday that institutions wish for better transparency about how and where bitcoin is being mined, suggesting that only a part of the total supply will end up in the custody of Wall Street.

Nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful,” O’Leary has had a change of heart regarding bitcoin as an asset class, and now, 3% of his personal portfolio is made out of BTC. But he claims he is not interested in buying bitcoin mined in a way that wasted energy or has provoked damage to the environment.

O’Leary said “I want to make sure my coin is mined efficiently,” and compared dirty bitcoin to “blood diamonds” that are used to finance illegal activities in regions such as Africa. If investors indeed have such desires, it would mean that they would stay away from the bitcoin mined in China, for example, as the country is powering its mining using coal-derived electricity.

The comment from O’Leary has again sparked an old debate in which “virgin” bitcoins, newly mined, may fetch a premium compared to the units that have been around and went through a series of wallets. This is because some users may want to stay away from coins that could have been used in the past for illegal affairs in the darknet marketplaces.

If this is true, it would mean that bitcoin is not really fungible or interchangeable, therefore lacking one of the fundamental properties of money. But hope is not lost, as evidence for virgin bitcoin premium is scarce, and the majority of market participants don’t think the idea has any real ground to walk on.

But if O’Leary is right, this would create a new differentiation between supposedly fungible coins.

All for Sustainability

O’Leary, who is the founder of a mutual fund company, a venture capital firm, and an ETF, mentions that these days, several institutions have two committees that make the decisions regarding asset allocations – one is the investment committee, the other is the sustainability committee.

He believes that bitcoin has to meet the expectations of both committees before the company is going to start investing.

“I don’t think the community realizes how big this issue is going to become,” he argues.

O’Leary declared that he had plans to get involved in the mining space and starting partnerships with miners who wish to reduce the carbon footprints.

Previous articleNext article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *