Katherine Ross

Investor Stanley Druckenmiller recently spoke about bitcoin during a fireside chat with Paul Tudor Jones.



The 70-year-old investor admitted that he doesn’t currently own any bitcoin —&nbsp;“but I should,” he continued.



To Druckenmiller, gold and bitcoin are similar, just with a huge age gap.&nbsp;



“I’m 70 years old, I own gold. I was surprised that bitcoin got going, but you know, it’s clear that the young people look at it as a store of value because it’s a lot easier to do stuff with. 17 years, to me, it’s a brand. I like gold because it’s a 5,000-year-old brand, but the young people have all the money, certainly the ones on the West Coast do,” he told Paul Tudor Jones on Oct. 24.



“So, I like them both. I don’t own any bitcoin but I should.”



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/alliancebernstein-gold-bitcoin-returns">AllianceBernstein calls bitcoin a ‘safe haven asset,’ more attractive than gold</a>



This isn’t the first time that Druckenmiller has made positive comments about bitcoin or crypto.



In September of last year — before the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/sam-bankman-fried-trial-day-15">collapse of FTX</a> — Druckenmiller admitted to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/28/cnbc-transcript-duquesne-family-office-chairman-ceo-stanley-druckenmiller-speaks-with-cnbcs-joe-kernen-live-during-the-cnbc-delivering-alpha-conference-today.html">CNBC</a> that he no longer owned bitcoin because of “central banks tightening.” Druckemiller admitted to owning bitcoin in 2021.



Druckenmiller also said: “It’s tough for me to own anything like [cryptocurrencies] with central banks tightening. But yeah, I still think — if the Bank of England, what they did — is followed by…other central banks in the next two or three years, if things get really bad…I could see cryptocurrency having a big role in a Renaissance because people just aren’t going to trust the central banks.”&nbsp;



Druckenmiller has compared bitcoin and gold in the past, admitting that he believes the<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/bitcoin-spot-etf-analysts-gold"> younger generations view bitcoin</a> as he views gold in 2021.&nbsp;



He dubbed it a “plaything” at a conference a few years ago in an <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/talks-at-gs/stanley-druckenmiller.html">interview</a> with Goldman Sachs.



“I have my doubts whether bitcoin itself will be anything other than a store of value because it&#8217;s got all sorts of problems as a currency…But you know, right now it&#8217;s an asset class,” Druckemiller said in the 2021 interview.



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‘I don’t own Bitcoin, but I should,’ says Druckenmiller

Ben Strack

Hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones continues to tout bitcoin amid a macro backdrop that he said makes it difficult to invest in equities.&nbsp;



The US is likely to slip into a recession in the first quarter of 2024, the billionaire told CNBC in an interview Tuesday.



“I would love gold and bitcoin together,” Tudor Jones said. “I think they probably take on a larger percentage of your portfolio than they would [historically] because we’re going to go through both a challenging political time here in the United States and we’ve obviously got a geopolitical situation.”



The comments come amid what Tudor Jones said “might be the most threatening and challenging geopolitical environment that [he’s] ever seen.” He added that the US is “probably in its weakest fiscal position since World War II.”



The Israeli government declared war against militant group Hamas over the weekend after Hamas attacked Israel. Israeli forces retaliated by increasing airstrikes over the Gaza Strip as the death toll of Israelis and Palestinians stood at roughly 1,600 early Tuesday.&nbsp;



It is the latest chapter in a decades-long conflict and follows the ongoing expansion of Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territories — which UN delegates have <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15424.doc.htm">said</a> violates international law.



The weekend conflict “triggered a wave of safe-haven flows towards bonds, oil and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/gold">gold</a>,” OANDA senior market analyst Edward Moya said in a Monday research note.



“It’s a really challenging time to want to be an equity investor in US stocks right now,” Tudor Jones said.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Moya added in a note on Tuesday that a dovish tone by the <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/federal-reserve">Federal Reserve</a> caused Treasury yields to drop, resulting in “a great day” for gold.



“The flight-to-safety isn’t over yet, especially considering all the risks to the outlook for the consumer,” Moya wrote.



Tudor Jones doubling down on bitcoin comes after he said in May that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/tudor-jones-on-bitcoin">he believes in maintaining a small allocation to bitcoin</a> — noting its limited supply that humans can’t tamper with.



“I’m sticking with it,” Tudor Jones said at the time. “I’m always going to stick with it.”Bitcoin’s (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) price was at about $27,400 at 2 pm ET on Tuesday — roughly flat over the past seven days. The asset is up about 65% year to date.



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Bitcoin

Paul Tudor Jones doubles down on BTC as recession looms

James Cirrone

Longtime trader and billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he’s sticking with bitcoin despite the regulatory pressures in the United States.&nbsp;



“From the beginning, I’ve always said that I want to have a small allocation [of bitcoin],” Jones said. “It’s the only thing that humans can’t adjust the supply [of].”



“I’m sticking with it. I’m always going to stick with it,” he added.



Bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc">BTC</a>) came up as a hedge against inflation in Jones’ conversation with Aaron Ross Sorkin. The two were previously discussing how quantitative easing and flat interest rates lasted all the way through 2021. Jones said this policy contributed somewhat to the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/signature-silicon-valley-bank-made-whole">banking failures in 2023</a>.



“Anyone that was listening to our Fed at that point in time was probably doing exactly what these banks did — extending maturities — because they were being told that inflation didn’t exist, and when it finally did come, it was transitory and rates were going to be low forever.”



Of course, inflation wasn’t transitory with <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/inflation-surges-again-in-june-bitcoin-slides-stocks-open-lower">the CPI reaching a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022</a>. Bitcoin’s price sank as low as $18,999.95 on July 13, 2022, the day the June CPI report was released.



Notably, Jones said the strategy of buying bitcoin and gold as an inflation hedge “may be over” if prices begin to moderate.&nbsp;



Additionally, bitcoin isn’t without its risks, according to Jones. He cited the US regulatory regime as a major thorn in the side of the world’s first digital currency.



“Bitcoin has a real problem because in the United States you have the entire regulatory apparatus against it,” Jones said.&nbsp;



CNBC’s interview with Jones made news because he said there’s a “good chance” that the US could be on the verge of a recession by the third quarter based on “recent financial episodes.”



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Tudor Jones on Bitcoin: ‘I’ve Never Sat on a Horse That Long’

Sam Reynolds

<div id="highlights-block_6130fd3fd12de" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Reports from Bloomberg say that Paul Tudor Jones’ Tudor Group is working on a digital disruption fund that likely has a crypto angle </li>
 <li>Tudor Group has declined to comment </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Bitcoin reminds billionaire fund manager Paul Tudor Jones of undervalued internet stocks of 1999. Now reports from <a href="https://twitter.com/DeItaone/status/1433445217487687683?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg</a> say that Jones’ Tudor Group is setting up a digital disruption fund that will likely have a crypto angle.&nbsp;



“Bitcoin reminds me so much of the internet stocks of 1999 because the internet was in its infancy. No one knew how to value it because of the world of possibility that lay ahead. What you can be certain of is that probably 20 years from now, our kids and grandkids, whatever, all of us, we’ll be using some type of digital currency. Digital currency will be used by every sovereign,” Jones said during a <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/paul-tudor-jones-on-bitcoin-180803661.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">December 2020 interview</a> with Yahoo Finance.&nbsp;



In addition, Jones has likened cryptocurrencies such as usable industrial metals such as “copper, platinum, and palladium.” In order to access the growing, disruptive world of things like decentralized finance, Jones argued, you need Ethereum, an “industrial digital asset”.&nbsp;



When reached for comment, the Tudor Group declined Blockworks’ invitation to speak more on the subject. 



Blockworks sources at the group confirmed the fund but could not share details on the record.



During a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/paul-tudor-jones-likes-bitcoin-as-portfolio-diversifier/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">June interview with CNBC</a>, Jones said he likes bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier to protect portfolios amid the uncertainty of potential actions the Federal Reserve could take.



“The only thing I know for certain is I want to have 5% in gold, 5% in bitcoin, 5% in cash and 5% in commodities at this point in time,” Jones is quoted as saying. “I don’t know what I want to do with the other 80%. I want to wait and see what the Fed’s going to do because what they do will have a big impact.”



Jones personally has been an active investor in crypto infrastructure, participating in <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-closes-900m-series-b-round-valuing-exchange-at-18b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX’s $900 million round</a> that valued the exchange at $18 billion.



According to 13F filings, Tudor Investment Corp, Jones’ eponymous fund owns approximately 6500 shares of Riot Blockchain, worth around $248,000, 15,000 shares of miner Marathon Digital, worth approximately $479,000. As of last quarter, the fund doesn’t hold shares of Coinbase or Galaxy Digital, two of the more prominent publicly listed crypto companies.



The price of bitcoin continued climbing on the news, up 5% in the last 24 hours and is currently at $49,600 according to <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CoinGecko</a>.&nbsp;



Want more investor-focused content on digital assets?&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Join us</a>&nbsp;September 13th and 14th for the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) in NYC. Use code ARTICLE for $75 off your ticket.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://cms.blockworks.co/events/digital-asset-summit-2021-2/" rel="noreferrer noopener">Buy it now</a>.