David Rubenstein: recommendation

Transcript context

…What do you think of crypto? What’s your best guess? My view is that the genie is out the bottle, and it’s too late for the US government to say, “Don’t do this anymore.” Remember we went through Prohibition, and we said, “People, don’t drink alcohol. It’s bad for you.” It didn’t really work out. If we were to ban cryptocurrencies, people will find a way to create cryptocurrencies offshore or some illegal way to do it. People don’t trust the government as much as they used to. And secondly, I think that there is money to be made in the cryptocurrency world if you’re careful and you know what you’re doing. But I’ve not bought any cryptocurrencies. I have invested in some companies that service the industry. What I say to people is that I analogize it to gambling. If you are a gambler, and you go to Las Vegas, you know you’re going to lose money if you spend a lot of time there. You don’t care because you’re having fun. You really like the setting, and it’s your pleasure. The same thing is true with crypto. A lot of people like to be seeing the oscillation of the cryptocurrencies. They like to hear about it. They think they’re the new wave of what’s going on, so they buy it. I’d say if, you want to do that, just make it like you do if you go to Las Vegas. Put 1 percent or 2 percent or 3 percent of your net worth in, have fun watching the stocks go up or the currencies go up and down, but don’t put in 50 percent of your money because I think that’s — it’s likely to be a fool’s errand. If you look at the payroll of the New Jersey Nets in the NBA as a private equity guy —…

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