Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook said the company is leaning towards digital currencies and cryptocurrency is part of his personal wallet.
While it’s not clear what Apple’s cryptocurrency plans might be, the potential efforts in digital currencies would not involve investing Apple’s large cash balance in it, Cook said. .
I don’t think people buy Apple stock to gain exposure to cryptocurrencies, Cook said in a pre-recorded interview for the New York Times DealBook Online Summit on Tuesday.
I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio and I don’t give investment advice to anyone, he said.
Mr Cook said the company has no immediate plans to accept cryptocurrencies on Apple Pay or as a way to bid for its products. But there are other things that we are definitely looking at, he said, without specifying further.
Regarding non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, Mr Cook said he found them interesting, although it would take some time for them to be in common use. NFTs are bitcoin-type tokens, with one particularity: only one is created at a time, and they are not interchangeable, just like currency tokens. NFT is tied to a digital work of art or other real world object and sold as a single digital property.
Other companies and leaders have ventured into the cryptocurrency arena. Tesla Inc. TSLA 10.28% revealed a $ 1.5 billion investment in bitcoin in February and soon after began accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment for its vehicles. However, the company quickly turned the tide by suspending the initiative in May when Elon Musk expressed concern about the source of electricity being used to power bitcoin mining.Musk, the chief executive of the electric vehicle company, said in July that he and his rocket company, SpaceX, held bitcoin.
Part of the appeal of bitcoin to some holders is that it is not distributed or controlled by any government or nation. Unlike opening a bank account to hold dollars, euros, or yen, opening a bitcoin account does not require the provision of credentials. Bitcoin is effectively anonymous and law enforcement cannot freeze a bitcoin account the way they could with a bank account.
PayPal Holdings Inc.’s CFO, PYPL 11.85% John Rainey said earlier this year that the digital payment company is looking to grow its profitable business by allowing customers to pay merchants with crypto assets, although that he does not yet intend to invest in it.
Payment firm Square Inc., run by bitcoin funder Jack Dorsey, said in October 2020 that it had acquired around $ 50 million worth of bitcoin for its corporate treasury. Mr Dorsey is also CEO of Twitter Inc. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired $ 100 million worth of bitcoin for its general investment account, the company said in December 2020.
Biden administration tightens control on cryptocurrencies.Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler said this month that the regulator would be “very active” in bringing the digital currency market into its investor protection framework. Many tokens in the cryptocurrency markets are dead, and many of the existing tokens raise funds from the public, posing risks such as fraud and manipulation, Gensler said.
Cryptocurrency is already part of Mr Cook’s personal investments, he said in response to a question asking if he owns cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin or ethereum.Mr Cook said he had been interested in digital currencies “for some time” and had researched them.
