‘Wolf of Wall Street’ J. Belfort admits being wrong about Bitcoin’s collapse

Former stockbroker commonly known as the “Wolf of Wall Street” Jordan Belfort has acknowledged that his initial projection of Bitcoin (BTC) going to zero was wrong. 

Speaking during an interview with Yahoo Finance on August 27, Belfort noted that his 2017 stand was due to the view that the asset was a scam while suggesting Bitcoin had properties of a fraudulent project. 

“At the time that I really hated crypto, I stand by everything I said about crypto in 2017 except for one thing,  I was wrong about Bitcoin going to zero but I didn’t look closely enough because I just said it’s a scam because it just seemed like that because in all the ear markings of that,” said Belfort. 

Impact of 2018 crypto winter 

Furthermore, Belfort stated that following the growth of cryptocurrencies, he believed a regulatory crackdown would push the asset to zero since it likely posed a threat. At the same time, he explained how the 2018 crypto winter changed his mind. 

“When it crashed and it went down to $3,000 it was still like a multi-billion dollar market. I’m like wait for a second when things crash they go like Terra (LUNA)  that’s what happens when they’re supposed to go the way. That was the first thing that made me start looking closely. <…> My original thesis was sovereign risk that the U.S. would just say no more like China did and that was the real thing that was driving me to be really bearish on Bitcoin,” he added. 

Interestingly, the former stockbroker revealed he came to understand Bitcoin harbored qualities of a digital gold driving a change of his mind. In this line, Belfort who is pushing for crypto regulation added that with maturity, Bitcoin will likely start trading like a store of value and less like a growth stock. 

Elsewhere, Belfort suggested that the crypto sector growth trajectory will mirror the dot-com bubble where select digital currencies will crash before rallying again.

He believes that cryptocurrencies likely to stand out are those with strong management and utility while stressing that in the long-term, Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) are likely to succeed. 

His stance on crypto growth mirrors the suggestion by Economist and founder of HS Dent Publishing, Harry Dent. As reported by Finbold, Dent believes that crypto is the ‘next big thing’ but the market will first experience a crash before rallying, similar to Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) stock growth. 

Watch the full interview below: