Indian Business Tycoon V Shankar Cautions Investors On Bitcoin Investments

V Shankar, the CEO of Gateway Partners, a Cayman Islands registered private equity firm, has again cautioned investors regarding the highly speculative nature of cryptoassets.

Viswanathan Shankar, who’s an experienced financial professional currently focusing on assisting accredited investors in Africa, Middle East, and the South East Asia region, recently remarked: 

We are for biscuits, not bitcoins.

“Biscuits, Not Bitcoin”

Shankar’s comments came during an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review and were made as his firm prepares to introduce the second round of investments, following the initial Gateway Fund I which brought in $757 million worth of capital. Explaining his investment strategy, Shankar noted: “[We go after] basic goods and services and the middle class.”

In addition to cautioning and reminding investors about not investing in highly volatile cryptoassets, namely bitcoin, Shankar recommended that people should avoid making investments in Tesla stocks and businesses based in Argentina. According to the MBA graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, the digital currency market has all the signs of “irrational exuberance.”

Going on to caution investors about Bitcoin, Argentina, and Tesla by using the initials of all three (BAT), Shankar remarked: “Stay away from BAT.” Notably, the BAT acronym may have a more meaningful message behind it for business owners in Asia as it is commonly used in the region to refer to giant search engine firm, Baidu, Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding, and Tencent Holdings, one of the world’s largest multinational holding conglomerates.

“We’ve Been Proven Right On All Three”

Referring to his predictions about bitcoin, Argentinian and Tesla stocks, Shankar confidently asserted:

I think I have been proven right on all three.

Notably, Argentina’s bond yields have been performing quite poorly due to the South American nation’s mismanaged monetary policies while billionaire Elon Musk’s Tesla firm has also been struggling due to management issues. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) price has dropped to currently just below the $4,000 mark, after recording an all-time high of nearly $20,000 on December 17th, 2017. Despite the sharp decline, BTC price has still appreciated considerably since January 2017 when the cryptocurrency was trading at only around $1,000.

Earlier in July 2018, Arab News had reported that Shankar had been advising investors to stay away from bubble-inflated tech stocks. At that time, the Indian businessman had described the Dubai and Singapore-based Gateway Partners investment philosophy as follows:

Our investment focus is very much on the basics, investing in areas that fulfil people’s essential needs and aiming to take advantage of demographic trends. Innovation is important but when I get tempted to put a lot of money into a new thing I think to myself: Don’t be BAT crazy.

“Not Against Digital Currencies, But Cryptocurrency Is Risky” 

Shankar had also said: 

B is for Bitcoin. I’m not against digital currency, and think financial transactions will be revolutionized by technology at every level, from how we pay for things to global trade. But cryptocurrency is risky and I just don’t see the need.

He continued:

A is for Argentina. Lovely country and lovely people, but historically it has defaulted on its debts every 20 years or so. Now it’s issuing a 100 year bond. That’s also crazy.

Shankar’s views regarding Tesla:

T is for Tesla. Great technology, but it produces just 100,000 cars a year and loses a lot of money. GM produces ten million cars and is profitable, but has the same market capitalization as Tesla. Now that’s crazy too.