‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Warns Bitcoin Investors: ‘This Thing Is Going to Evaporate Like a Mirage’

On Monday (27 August 2018), Jordan Ross Belfort, the former American stockbroker who spent 22 months in prison for running pump-and-dump scams that led to investor losses of approximately $200 million, warned investors of the dangers of investing in Bitcoin. Belfort’s first memoir formed the basis for the 2013 movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” starring Leonardo DiCapri.

In a documentary titled “Bitcoin: Boom or Bust” airing on CNBC on Aug 27th (at 6pm Eastern Time), he told CNBC:

“I was a scammer. I had it down to science, and it’s exactly what’s happening with bitcoin. The whole thing is so stupid, these kids have gotten themselves so brainwashed.”

He added:

“This thing is going to evaporate like a mirage. There’s a lot of really honest people who are going to get slaughtered.”

He also explained why he believed that it was unlikely that governments would allow an anonymous currency to exist:

“Central banks don’t want it, they’ve spent all this time trying to stop money laundering, why now allow something that’s anonymous, and lends itself to making money-laundering easy? I don’t believe there’s any shot in the world they’ll let that happen.”

This is not the first time that Belfort has made disparaging comments about Bitcoin. In a video published on his YouTube channel on 23 June 2018, he said:

“Guys, I have told you that Bitcoin was going to get destroyed when it was $18000-19000… This is just the beginning of the end… It has the ability to go to zero… This is all based on ‘The Greater Fool Theory’. I know this better than anyone in the world… Get out if you don’t want to lose all your money…. When it really cracks, you are not going to be able to sell on the way down… There’s no utility. It is an energy disaster… You are on a sinking ship… If you think $6100 is anywhere close to the bottom, you are f****ing crazy. Save your freaking money. It is mass delusion.

He did say, however, in the same video, that he believed in blockchain technology:

“I am a believer in blockchain technology… I think there will be great cryptocurrencies out there at some point in time… You can be pro blockchain technology and not pro Bitcoin. They are not the same thing. It would be one thing if Bitcoin owned Blockchain technology and everybody had to license it. That would be a different story, guys.”

Featured Image Credit: Photo via Pexels.com