In an interview for Anthony Pompliano’s “The Best Business Show”, Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary talked about his new ambition for Bitcoin. The legendary investor made a 180 degrees turn in its position on the cryptocurrency going from bearish to ultra-bullish, as his latest comments confirm once more.
Related Reading | Bitcoin And S&P 500 Correlation Near All-Time High, BTC To Revisit Lows?
O’Leary talked about his trip to the Middle East where he discussed with sovereign nations the possibility of starting to mine Bitcoin. Mr. Wonderful made a very bullish prediction for this sector, as he claims that in the next 24 to 36 months a sovereign fund could announce a Bitcoin investment.
The Middle East is home to some of the largest sovereign funds in the world, as O’Leary said. Data from the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute indicates that the Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company (ADQ), the Emirates Investment Authority (EIA), and the Israeli Citizens Fund have over $100 billion in assets.
Therefore, any investment in Bitcoin from these institutions could result in billions pouring into the asset. O’Leary believes sovereign funds will gain exposure to the cryptocurrency by starting their own mining operations. Mr. Wonderful said:
I was interesting to see if there was a way to invest together. What they are contemplating, some of these countries, are sovereign mining operations (…). Once a sovereign fund decides it’s going to invest in Bitcoin, it’s going to want to mine it sustainable and ethically (…).
In that sense, O’Leary referred to some of the controversy generated around BTC mining in the past years and the concerns big players, like Tesla’s Elon Musk, raised over its impact on the environment. This resulted in several initiatives to support “green” mining operations, such as the Michael Saylor-led Bitcoin Mining Council. O’Leary added:
We had a lot of controversy, starting last year, I remember Bitcoin 2021, the whole Elon Musk thing, the conversion around ESG, and is mining Bitcoin is going to be compliant with ESG mandates? So, this is what I’m getting out of this conversation because I’ve always wanted to open up my own mining operation and I’m going to probably do it in this calendar year.
A Bitcoin Mining Model For The Future
Mr. Wonderful expanded on his idea of a BTC mining operation which could fall under his classification of “sustainable and ethically” compliant. He believes miners should give back something to the communities, and reach agreements with local authorities.
In addition, O’Leary expects miners to offer equity for investors to be able to support their operations. In order to achieve this, miners need to be able to establish a BTC-based treasury strategy and keep the cryptocurrency in their balance sheets.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Mining Profitability Plunges After Productive Fall Period
Saylor’s MicroStrategy operates with this model. The software company has become a BTC proxy and attracted interest from institutional-looking to gain exposure to the crypto asset without having to, as Mr. Wonderful said, “go to my committee, I just buy the stocks (…), I’m not breaching any regulation”. He added:
That’s what’s going to happen this year, you are going to see a ton of capital going to these new projects. Some of these are going to use old Chinese stacks because they’re all exiting the country, all that country, and they are going to set up in jurisdictions just like the way I described it with the equity being the way the institution owns exposure to Bitcoin pricing.
As of press time, BTC trades $41,585 with a 2% loss in 24-hours.
