If You Invested $1,000 in Bitcoin When Former Credit Suisse CEO Called It a Bubble, Here’s How Much You’d Have Now
The manager of a prominent banking company made some harsh criticisms of Bitcoin BTC/USD in 2017. While criticism is nothing new, the person who made the comments at the time is creating interest in these comments that were made more than five years ago.
What happened: Swiss bank Credit Suisse AG CS is among the banking giants that have struggled in recent months. The problems eventually led to the bank being bought out by Swiss peers UBS Group AG UBS with a discount.
With several banks collapsing and questions about the banking industry, some experts have suggested investing in the leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin.
Author “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. Robert Kiyosaki has told investors to buy gold, silver and Bitcoin with banks in trouble.
The head of one of the banks in trouble spoke out against Bitcoin in 2017, something fans of the cryptocurrency have not forgotten.
Tidjane Thiam, the former CEO of Credit Suisse, called Bitcoin a bubble while speaking at a press conference on November 2, 2017, CoinDesk reported.
“From what we can identify, the only reason today to buy or sell Bitcoin is to make money, which is the very definition of speculation and the very definition of a bubble,” Thiam said.
Thiam also mentioned the close links between Bitcoin and crime, saying that banks like Credit Suisse “have little or no appetite to get involved in a currency that has such anti-money laundering challenges”.
Thiam is not the only critic of Bitcoin. Other prominent investors such as Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio have spoken out against Bitcoin, with Buffett referring to the cryptocurrency as “rat poison squared.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM CEO Jamie Dimon has been one of the bank chiefs to speak out against Bitcoin for years.
Thiam retired from Credit Suisse in February 2020, having been CEO since March 2015. Thiam is now chairman of Freedom Acquisition I Corp FACTa SPAC that merges with Complete Solariaa solar company.
While Credit Suisse was not led by Thiam recently, Twitter user Joe Burnett, an analyst at Blockware solutions, shared the details.
“Over 5 years ago the CEO of Credit Suisse called Bitcoin a bubble. Since then, BTC is up 318% and Credit Suisse just sold for 1/5 the size of Dogecoin,” Burnett tweeted.
The tweet generated a face with tears of joy emoji replies from Changpeng “CZ” ZhaoCEO and co-founder of Binance.
Related Link: How to Buy Bitcoin
Investment $1000 in Bitcoin: Hearing the CEO of one of the largest banks in the world call Bitcoin a bubble may have scared many investors away. The comments may also have led some investors to believe they could get in before big banks catch on to the opportunities and investment cases for cryptocurrency.
With Bitcoin trading at $6,758.72 on November 2, 2017, a person could have bought 0.1480 BTC with $1,000. The same $1,000 investment would be worth $4,151.97.
This represents a return of 315.2% over a period of 5.33 years for an average annual return of 59.1%.
Investors could have listened to the comments about Bitcoin being a bubble and invested $1,000 in shares of Credit Suisse instead. A $1,000 investment could have bought 61.5 shares of Credit Suisse at that time.
The $1,000 investment in Credit Suisse would be worth $60.28 today based on a price of 98 cents per share at the time of writing. This represents a 93.9% loss on investment, or an average annual loss of 17.6%.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPYwhich tracks the S&P 500, is up 155.2% over the same time period, representing an average annual gain of 29.1%.
Read next: 10 things Credit Suisse is older than: light bulbs, telephones, radios, sports leagues and more
Photo: Marko Aliaksandr via Shutterstock
