Kraken CEO on U.S. Users, Crypto Volatility

Kraken, the popular crypto exchange, has now brought their mobile trading platform to users in the U.S. The company states users will now be able to trade over 50-tokens on the platform, straight from their mobile phones. CEO Jesse Powell spoke with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang.

“You got to be able to have an iron stomach to tolerate the ride. But the gains are massive for those who can handle it.”

Powell: We’re really excited to finally offer a retail product to the market, our pro app has been available for a while, but this really completes the package for us in the United States and allows people to buy directly from their bank account and sell directly into their bank account. So that’s a huge convenience for people. It’s something that people have been asking for a long time. So we think the opportunity in the United States is awesome. We’ve been super successful with it in the rest of the world. So we’re just planning for more success here.

Host: The story of the last couple of months, though, has been volatility. Jesse, you told us Bitcoin would go to infinity a million in the next decade or this was my favorite quote from you, “one Lambo or about $200,000 before the end of the year”. Do you think it’s still going to get there?

Powell: I stand by that, so, look, you can buy you can buy a forward delivery of a Lambo now at a discount at a cheap $37,000. Lots of people are buying the dip. Personally, I’m googling like how to sell my kidneys at this point. Turns out. It’s illegal. So much for my body, my choice. But look, like I think people are getting ready to go on to ramen diets to buy Bitcoin at these levels. I think that, you know, just everything that’s happening in Miami right now, the excitement around the space is so hot. I think people just see this growing massively. So not worried about this little dip. We’ve seen this over and over crypto is a roller coaster. You got to be able to have an iron stomach to tolerate the ride. But the gains are massive for those who can handle it.

Host: OK, but is going on a rum and diet a wise idea? I mean, I thought people were only supposed to invest what they could really afford to lose.

Powell: Absolutely don’t invest anything more than you can afford to lose, don’t gamble your rent on bitcoin, the price is up and down 50% in any given week. So you’ve really got to be able to think about this investment and hold for 5 to 10 years. You know, don’t think about this as a week to week swing trade. You know, people absolutely should not be betting any more than they can afford to lose. It’s still a very risky investment. But obviously, over time, if you look at the chart, you know, 10 years ago, Bitcoin was trading at $1. Today, $36,000. Still year over year, it’s up 200 plus. So long term, it’s an absolutely fantastic investment. From my point of view, I absolutely would not put 100% of my portfolio into Bitcoin or I would not pay my rent money into Bitcoin.

Host: And definitely not your food, money. don’t want people trying to survive on cup-o-noodles. OK, I want to ask you about Elon Musk because he has had some incredible influence on the ups and downs here. And I wonder how you feel about one individual having that much power.

Powell: Yeah, it’s really interesting to see the reactions to, you know, to one person’s tweets and what that can have on the market, I mean, I think it just goes to show that the power of memes is real and that people are increasingly looking toward sort of non-traditional figures to get investment advice from. You know, I think we’ve realized that, like, we can’t trust the trust the guys that are running the system now. And so who else is smart out there and seems visionary and seems to have the interest of humanity at heart. And those guys have proven to be more trustworthy.

*Bloomberg contributed to this content

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