Cliff Asness says cryptocurrencies are only good for speculation, crimes and bitcoin is in a bubble

Cliff Asness, co-founder of AQR Capital Management, believes bitcoin is in a bubble after the cryptocurrency’s rapid rise to more than $100,000 following the November presidential election.

“Online, I’m on the bubble side,” Asness said on CNBC.Money carriers” on Monday. “To get me off this, you really don’t need a price change, but a use case change. This is what might convince me to become perhaps more of a crypto person when I find some use for it, other than speculation and crime.”

Asness said he identified three uses for cryptocurrencies: speculation, use in war-torn countries and paying cyber ransoms.

Bitcoin is up 120% in 2024 after a massive year-end rally following the election of President-elect Donald Trump. Investors had hoped that Trump would usher in a golden era of cryptocurrencies, including supportive deregulation of the industry and the creation of a national strategic bitcoin reserve. In the new year, the value of the digital coin dropped by 3%, and its last turnover was close to $90,000.

“There is no fundamental trend in cryptocurrencies because I don’t know what the fundamentals are, but there is a price trend,” Asness said. “So I guess most trend followers who have this in their universe are actually long

While Asness is bearish on cryptocurrencies, he noted that he wouldn’t bet against it due to its volatility.

“I wouldn’t trade cryptocurrencies just because shorting at 100% annual volatility can be a little scary. “I think we’ve all discovered what concentrated shorts can do to your wallet,” he added.

Asness co-founded AQR in 1998 after a stint at Goldman Sachs. He and his partners created the firm’s quant-based investment philosophy at the University of Chicago. program, focusing on value and momentum strategies.