Bill Ackman, a billionaire investor and CEO of Pershing Square Capital, has said he feels optimistic about the prospects for cryptocurrencies in spite of the market downturn resulting from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
He has written on Twitter:
“Despite crypto’s ability to facilitate fraud, with the benefit of sensible regulation and oversight, crypto technology’s potential for beneficent societal impact may eventually compare with the impact of the telephone and internet on the economy and society.”
According to him, he was initially skeptical, as he saw that the phone, the Internet and cryptocurrencies had “one thing in common:”
“Each technology improves on the next in terms of its ability to facilitate fraud.”
He has also suggested that the tokens have no intrinsic value and are merely a “modern version of tulip mania”.
After studying “several interesting crypto projects,” Ackman has concluded the technology could help build “useful businesses” that could not have been created without it.
