Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has taken a completely different stance on crypto after being skeptical of the space for years.
Ackman, the founder and chief executive of the hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, says crypto’s ability to facilitate fraud initially drove his skepticism of digital assets.
“I was initially a crypto skeptic, but after studying some of the more interesting crypto projects, I have come to believe that crypto can enable the formation of useful businesses and technologies that heretofore could not be created. The ability to issue a token to incentivize participants in a venture is a powerful lever in accessing a global workforce to advance a project.”
The billionaire does note that pump-and-dump scams are a problem in the crypto space and suggests that the vast majority of digital assets are being used for fraudulent purposes.
However, Ackman says the decentralized wireless network Helium (HNT) helped him realize that crypto could build intrinsic value.
“Helium created a global Wi-Fi network used by Lime and others to track devices globally as well as for other uses which benefit by access to global Wi-Fi networks.
Helium’s global network of 974,000 hotspots was crowd created by individuals who purchased and deployed Helium hotspots to mine HNT, its native token. Customers who wish to use the network must purchase HNT and burn it, ie, remove the ‘consumed’ HNT from its total supply of tokens.”
Ackman also clarifies that he wasn’t advocating for any particular crypto project.
“Rather, I am making the case that crypto can facilitate potentially useful and important businesses that heretofore could not exist. That said, the success of any individual project is a function of the ultimate demand for its products and/or services and the quality and the execution of its management.”
The billionaire notes he is a direct investor in crypto projects and crypto VC funds.
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