Trillions of Dollars Could Descend on Bitcoin Once It Clears This Hurdle, According to Kevin O’Leary

Business tycoon and Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary is betting on a wave of institutional money flooding into Bitcoin once it solves a controversial issue. 

In an interview with Kitco News, O’Leary explains that although he’s very bullish on Bitcoin, big money won’t be entering the space until Bitcoin miners can address environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues.

“I talk to institutions every day. They are not going to buy Bitcoin until this ESG issue is resolved. Period. There’s no flexibility. They have no choice. They’ve already decided that they are going to stay within the covenants of their ESG committees.”

ESG refers to the three central factors in measuring the sustainability and societal impact of an investment in a company or business.

O’Leary also highlights that he sees big institutional players racing to invest in the largest crypto asset after resolving its ESG issues. 

“So, [the institution’s] decision is, ‘I’ll take a 5% weighting in Bitcoin. But I have a sustainability committee to answer to first, and I will only own coin that’s mined in my own facility, or I’m a shareholder where I know it’s done sustainably, or I will buy it with a [sustainable] wrapper.’

That’s where I think we’re going. And if that happens that way and the institutional log jam opens up, and that capital starts coming – in which, by the way, is in the trillions of dollars – I see Bitcoin outperforming the stock indices for a very long time. But I’m not betting the farm on it. I’m a 3-5% weighting. That’s a rational decision for an investor like me.”

Last month, the renowned investor said that he’s betting big on the decentralized finance space (DeFi) as he believes the nascent crypto sector enables users to put their money to work.

“I guess what’s happening is the money is looking for the most frictionless way to actually be productive and so the reason DeFi is so interesting, instead of paying those crazy 2% fees that these wallets are charging, I don’t need those guys for anything. Maybe I need a ramp to put my fiat into Ether or whatever, but after that, I don’t need them, and I can go and do this for a fraction of those costs on a decentralized basis…

Imagine if I could’ve over these years had a 5% yield on my gold. That would’ve been incredible. Well, I can with my crypto, so that’s really what I’m doing in DeFi and I think I’ve got the best team in North America.”

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