According to a report by Norwegian newspaper Dagens N\u00e6ringsliv (DN), billionaire businessman \u00d8ystein Stray Spetalen, has recently invested in crypto exchange MiraiEx and Bitcoin.<\/p>\n
DN\u2019s report, which was published last night, says that the Norwegian billionaire has done a complete 180 on Bitcoin. Apparently, on March 18, Spetalen had this to say about Bitcoin at the (virtual) DB Invest conference:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing I have made an analysis of is that bitcoin today consumes as much energy as all of Norway\u2019s energy consumption. It is extremely environmentally hostile. If one really meant anything about bitcoin, the authorities and the EU should ban this immediately. Then you cut CO 2 emissions considerably, he says, and describes it as a nonsense currency.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just nonsense. We are doing well with the payment systems that are in place today.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n 10 days earlier, Norwegian industrial giant\u00a0Aker ASA\u00a0had announced that it had \u201cestablished\u00a0Seetee AS\u00a0(\u2018Seetee\u2019), a new company dedicated to investing in projects and companies throughout the Bitcoin ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n In a\u00a0letter to shareholders, Norwegian billionaire businessman\u00a0Kjell Inge R\u00f8kke, who is the Chairman of Aker said:<\/p>\n \u201cI want to state up\u00adfront that I am aware that Bit\u00adcoin is of\u00adten crit\u00adi\u00adcised for a num\u00adber of per\u00adceived challenges, includ\u00ading its elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty con\u00adsump\u00adtion, its in\u00adabil\u00adi\u00adty to scale with respect to trans\u00adac\u00adtions, and its po\u00adten\u00adtial to facilitate anony\u00admous il\u00adle\u00adgit\u00adimate pay\u00adments. We be\u00adlieve that Bit\u00adcoin can be a so\u00adlu\u00adtion rather than a prob\u00adlem for each of those.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n He then explained why Aker had decided to get into the Bitcoin space:<\/p>\n \u201cAker\u2019s de\u00adci\u00adsion to en\u00adter Bit\u00adcoin through See\u00adtee is the re\u00adsult of a long and fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal dis\u00adcus\u00adsion about value. I have been drink\u00ading from the firehose since last sum\u00admer. While this let\u00adter is my way of ex\u00adpress\u00ading my thoughts on the mat\u00adter, my in\u00adsights are large\u00adly de\u00adrived from read\u00ading ar\u00adticles and books, lis\u00adten\u00ading to pod\u00adcasts and watch\u00ading videos, as well as conver\u00adsa\u00adtions with peo\u00adple around me.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n He then went on to say that Aker had decided that not investing in Bitcoin would be the riskiest decision:<\/p>\n \u201cRisk is not an ob\u00advi\u00adous con\u00adcept. What\u2019s com\u00admon\u00adly con\u00adsid\u00adered risky is frequent\u00adly not. And vice ver\u00adsa. We are used to think\u00ading that cash is risk free. But it\u2019s not. It\u2019s im\u00adplic\u00adit\u00adly taxed by in\u00adfla\u00adtion at a small rate every year. It adds up. Cen\u00adtral bankers have mag\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly agreed that they should tar\u00adget two percent in\u00adfla\u00adtion, which im\u00adplies that one third of your mon\u00adey\u2019s worth is taxed away every twen\u00adty years. If it was three per\u00adcent, al\u00admost half of it would be gone in that time.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n R\u00f8kke later added:<\/p>\n \u201cWe be\u00adlieve bitcoin is go\u00ading to be on the right side of his\u00adto\u00adry. But we should re\u00admind our\u00adselves that some will re\u00adsist force\u00adful\u00adly: Nor\u00adway was the last coun\u00adtry in Eu\u00adrope to adopt colour tv in 1972, sev\u00ader\u00adal years af\u00adter the tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy was avail\u00adable.<\/em>\u201c<\/p>\n Now, however, it seems that Spetalen has changed his mind about Bitcoin, perhaps in no part due to seeing fellow Norwegian billionaire R\u00f8kke get into Bitcoin.<\/p>\n According to DN\u2019s report, this is what he said during a recent interview with Norwegian business newspaper Finansavisen:<\/p>\n