Howard Marks: Bitcoin Is an “Anti-Bank Play”

Howard Marks, a billionaire investor, is confident bitcoin has a lot to offer.

Howard Marks Feels Bitcoin Has a Solid Future

Over the past several weeks, Marks said bitcoin is becoming a huge power play for those losing faith in the American banking system, which has been in trouble as of late. At press time, about three banks in the U.S. have completely fallen apart, largely due to the ballooning debt the Fed has taken on.

In a recent interview, Marks commented on bitcoin:

There are people who believe that when you have a bank crisis, like we did with Silicon Valley Bank and some of the others, that the weakness of the banks shows the strength of bitcoin. It’s in many ways an anti-bank play. It does seem that there are good uses for some coins, and bitcoin seems to be the one in the lead so far.

He said that up to this point, interest rates have been relatively low, and they’re largely responsible for all the money U.S. investors have made over the past four and a half decades. He also said that while the present rate hikes aren’t likely to last much longer, he does think the days of super-low rates are dead and gone. He commented:

The declining interest rates were responsible for the majority of all the money that’s been made in the last 45 years… The rates are high today to fight inflation. I don’t think they’re going to stay this high, but they’re through coming down in any major way, and they’re through being ultra-low.

He also stated that the present situation presents opportunities for both investors and the Fed to show some humility, which has been missing from the financial landscape in the U.S. for years. He said:

Humility is a really important thing, especially in the market, which humbles us all. Anybody who doesn’t allow for humility, in a field where there’s randomness and uncertainty, and qualitative and subjective things are important, is riding for a fall.

In the long run, he doesn’t think the Fed has done a good job in ensuring the cogs of the monetary machine keep running smoothly. He stated:

People used to talk about the factory of the future, which would have one man and one dog, and it was the dog’s job to keep the man from touching the equipment. It was the man’s job to feed the dog. I would like to have the Fed keep its hands off the machinery most of the time.

AI Will Present Problems

In closing, he said advancements in AI could cause problems for a lot of workers in the future, saying:

AI, just like passive investing and machine learning, even maybe to a greater extent, will knock out everybody who doesn’t add value.

Tags: bitcoin, Fed, Howard Marks