Mobius Capital Founder Says Crypto Is Not an Investment but 'a Means to Speculate and Have Fun'

Mobius Capital Partners founder Mark Mobius says that cryptocurrency is not an investment, calling it “a means to speculate and have fun.” He prefers stocks and believes “the U.S. market is going to continue to prosper and continue to do well.”

Mark Mobius Does Not See Crypto as an Investment

Mark Mobius, the founder of Mobius Capital Partners, talked about cryptocurrency in an interview with CNBC Wednesday.

Prior to starting his own company, Mobius was executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group. He joined Templeton in 1987 where he managed more than $50 billion in emerging markets portfolios. He founded Mobius Capital Partners in March 2018.

“It’s not an investment. It’s a religion,” he said about crypto, elaborating:

People should not look at these cryptocurrencies as a means to invest. It’s a means to speculate and have fun. But then you got to go back to stocks at the end of the day.

Unlike Mobius, many famous investors and fund managers see bitcoin as a good investment. Renowned investors Paul Tudor Jones and Stan Druckenmiller, for example, have said that bitcoin is a great hedge against inflation. Jones even admitted recently that he prefers crypto to gold.

Others who have recommended bitcoin as an investment include Rich Dad Poor Dad author Robert Kiyosaki who predicted last week that the U.S. will suffer a great crash, followed by a new depression. Moreover, Morgan Stanley’s CEO said last month that bitcoin is not a fad and crypto is not going away.

Mobius further warned about rising inflation Wednesday, noting that stocks are the best bet in the current environment. He opined:

Stocks definitely are the answer because the devaluation of currency is not going to go away, which means inflation is going to continue at a high rate going forward. Don’t forget the U.S. money supply has gone up over 30%.

While emphasizing, “We believe the U.S. market is going to continue to prosper and continue to do well,” the founder of Mobius Capital Partners pointed out that the main problem for the U.S. market is the potential for higher interest rates.

“Of course the big worry is interest rates, if the [global central] banks decide to raise interest rates after they’ve done their bond buying, then that could be a big worry not only in the U.S. but emerging markets generally,” he concluded.