The allure, the privacy, the experience of "happiness and pleasure" are why people invest in cryptocurrencies noted Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein. One can be like James Bond given:
"There’s a lot of thrill in the secrecy of it, a lot of thrill that nobody knows what you actually own, a lot of Russian oligarchs saw their assets being taken away by Western governments and many other wealthy people around the world are probably saying, ‘well I want to have some assets that nobody can confiscate, nobody knows that I have [them],’ and that’s what cryptocurrencies do."
Rubenstein's family office Declaration Partners has a stake in crypto infrastructure firm Paxos. I imagine Rubenstein received a capital call from Paxos given crypto's recent swoon.
Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill my portfolio with spreads and fees....
Update 9-15-22: Kim Kardashian of SKKY Capital is looking to date a doctor, lawyer or neuroscientist. Why not a fellow private equity underwriter (PEU)? That would be titillating.
Update 10-1-22: Rubenstein remains a crypto promoter.
Update 11-8-22: Crypto run at FTX causes sale of FTX's non U.S. business to Binance.
Update 11-10-22: Bloomberg reported FTX with an $8 billion hole is careening toward bankruptcy.
Update 11-25-22: FTX imploded in the worst way. Ruybenstein came out in favor of blockchain technology after saying this of crypto (last week on Fox Business):
"We should be worried because it's very risky, it's very complicated and people don't have the information they would have if it was properly regulated. It really isn't regulated, and so it's the Wild West to some extent."
"Generally it's a very complicated area, it's not for people who are not professionals," he said.
"I don't think it's going to go away completely, but clearly it's been damaged a great deal and a lot of people are going to be suffering from this."
The article made no mention of Rubenstein's family office investment in Paxos. Undeclared conflicts of interest are part of the investment Wild West.
Update 12-3-22: The head of BlackRock Inc. said most digital-asset firms won’t survive.
Update 2-15-23: Famed investor Charlie Munger said of cryptocurrencies:
"It isn't even slightly stupid, it's massively stupid, and of course it's very dangerous, and of course the governments were totally wrong to permit it."
