Billionaire Barry Sternlicht Owns Bitcoin Because Governments Are ‘Printing Money Now to the End of Time’

The billionaire CEO of Starwood Capital, an investment firm with over $95 billion under management, has revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether. “The U.S. government, and every government in the Western Hemisphere, is printing money now to the end of time, and this is a finite amount of something and it can be traded globally,” he explained.

Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, an investment firm with over $95 billion in assets under management (AUM), talked about bitcoin and cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. According to Forbes’ list of billionaires, Sternlicht’s net worth as of Oct. 14 is $4.4 billion.

The Starwood Capital boss revealed that he owns bitcoin and ether, noting that cryptocurrency makes sense as a way to diversify investment portfolios.

Commenting on what JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said about bitcoin being worthless, he said, “Gold is kind of worthless too.” Discussing bitcoin as a store of value, he shared:

The reason I own bitcoin is because the U.S. government, and every government in the Western Hemisphere, is printing money now to the end of time, and this is a finite amount of something and it can be traded globally.

Despite owning BTC, the billionaire CEO described: “Bitcoin is a dumb coin. It has no real purpose other than a store of value, and it’s crazily volatile.” He proceeded to explain why he owns ether. “So, ether … I own some of that. It’s a programmable Bitcoin, and there are tons of other coins built on that system.”

In addition, Sternlicht noted that he has “become very interested in blockchain technology as a whole.” Stating that the technology is “going to change everything,” he believes, “We’re probably in inning one.”

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