Kevin O’Leary – aka Mr. Wonderful on the television show “Shark Tank” believes that bitcoin could eventually overpower the stock market.
Kevin O’Leary: Sustainability Will Make a Big Difference
His sentiment comes from the sudden shift that many bitcoin miners are making. Initially, bitcoin was the subject of much concern and disgust amongst environmentalists, who claimed that the extraction process behind bitcoin was contributing to severe atmospheric destruction. However, O’Leary claims that many miners are listening to these arguments and are now implementing greener ways of mining digital currencies.
He says that this will ultimately help propel bitcoin into much more mainstream territory. A newfound “green” attitude amongst miners will work to potentially attract more institutional investors and cause the currency to hit new price peaks that will send it beyond anything the stock market could accomplish. In a recent interview, he states:
It is both a huge problem and a massive opportunity. I prefer to look at the opportunity. I called it out on that Yahoo Finance interview, and the proverbial poo-poo hit the fan. I took a lot of [guff], but it is obviously on the mind of the institutional client.
O’Leary claims that as of late, there are several fears surrounding bitcoin given its environmental, social, and corporate governance compliance, or ESG for short. He says that in the end, it is this governance that is likely to account for all future decisions regarding bitcoin and the crypto mining process that extracts new units from the blockchain:
At the end of the day, there is a new sheriff in town. It is called ESG. Every single institution, including Larry Fink on down at BlackRock who put out his ESG letter, his sustainability mandate, this used to be fringe. It is not fringe anymore. You have to be sustainable in terms of how you look at investing or you are going to lose your investor.
Thus far, O’Leary has struck several deals with mining companies that incorporate green energy. He says he will purchase units mined through them granted they can prove that the units in question were extracted through environmentally friendly means:
I just think that the minute we solve the institutional ESG issue, Katy bar the doors, because people do not understand that most of the world’s investments are in the institutions and the sovereign funds. That is where the real money is.
This Will Affect Several Areas
He says ESG is not only affecting bitcoin. Institutions want to see all industries become green at some point, and many have pulled out of certain areas granted they are not witnessing much improvement. Oil is a major example in that despite boosts in cash flows, many institutions are refusing to invest:
That is sustainability committees pushing out the stocks out of mandates out of portfolios. That just gives you the idea of the power of the ESG mandate.
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