Ex-Prudential Securities CEO Calls Bitcoin a ‘Safe Haven’

George Ball, the former chief executive officer of Prudential Securities and now CEO of Sanders Morris Harris, suggested bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies could be “a safe haven” for investors and traders as an alternative investment.

Ball, who claimed himself as a Bitcoin and blockchain opponent, said in an interview with Reuters on Aug. 14 that bitcoin or another cryptocurrency is “very attractive” both in the long term and short term and predicted more people will turn to the crypto market after the Labor Day.

“The government can't stimulate the markets forever,” Ball said. “The liquidity flood will end. Sooner or later, the government’s got to start paying for some of these stimulus, for some of the deficits, for some of the well-deserved, very smart subsidies that it's providing to people. Are they going to raise taxes that high? Or, if not, are they going to print money? If they print money, that debases the currency and probably even things like TIPS – Treasury inflation-protected securities – can be corrupted.”

This would likely lead to very wealthy investors and traders to turn to bitcoin “or something like it as a staple,” he concluded, hinting that a growing interest in cryptocurrencies from high-net-worth investors.

Ball is not the first one who has noticed this investment trend in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mike Novogratz, chief executive of the digital-current firm Galaxy Digital, told Bloomberg TV back in April that he has observed new players including hedge funds and high-net-worth individuals have been buying cryptocurrencies amid the financial shakeup caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ball also stressed that seeking cryptocurrencies as an alternative investment is not for the purpose to find a tax refuge but “to have something that can’t be undermined by the government.”