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Alex Dovbnyađź“° NewsSteve Schwarzman says he won’t buy Bitcoin, but Blackstone might invest in Blockchain-related companiesÂ
In case you were wondering, Steve Schwarzman, the CEO of asset management giant Blackstone, is not particularly a Bitcoin fan.Â
During a recent interview with Fortune, he definitely said that he wouldn’t want to own any BTC, but he did have some words of praise for Blockchain, the technology that underpins it.
Blackstone to dabble in Blockchain
During the crypto winter of 2018, venture capitalists abandoned Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and decided to throw money at Blockchain. The buzzword that initially appeared in Satoshi’s white paper holds a lot of promise for a lot of industries beyond crypto and finance.
Even though the hype around Blockchain has fizzled out, Schwarzman suggests that Blackstone might invest in companies that deal with the newfangled technology.
That would be good because it’s a sound, very interesting technology.
Blockchain, not BitcoinÂ
However, Schwarzman doesn’t see how Blockchain can be applied to the creation of money while conceding that he doesn’t know much about Bitcoin. He rejects the idea of decentralization, making a case for government-controlled currencies.Â
I don’t have much interest in that because it’s hard for me to understand. I was raised in a world where someone needs to control currencies. There’s a reason to want to control currencies, which is why governments all do it.”
When asked whether he would buy Bitcoin, Schwarzman succinctly answered “No.”
The Bitcoin crime problem
In the meantime, Schwarzman seems to be concerned about ill-gotten use cases that are associated with Bitcoin, such as money laundering and drug trade.
So the idea that you can transact without anybody knowing anything, you could have a lot of criminal behavior — dirty money, drug money — running all over the world. It only encourages that kind of activity.”
As reported by U.Today, US President Donald Trump also addressed this issue back in July.