Founder of the investment management firm DoubleLine Capital, Jeffrey Gundlach has said he is happy for the Bitcoin Mania to go on without him, but he has had some injuries from his own mother when the price was heading towards $5,000.
The investor was sent a link to a story that urges readers to buy Bitcoin from his mom with her wanting to know if she should get into the game.
Bitcoin has garnered large support or huge condemnation from those in the know, but Gundlach has made up his mind that he will not be taking part.
Messages from mom
Gundlach has said how, when Bitcoin was sitting at around $4,500 per coin, he received a text from his mother, clearly interested in the investor’s thoughts on the skyrocketing asset.
Bitcoin went on to hit $5,000 briefly but has since rolled back to under $4,000 thanks to a number of factors including a Chinese ICO ban, threats of exchanges bans in the same country and harsh rhetoric from JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon.
Since the fallback in price though, Gundlach believes his mother’s interest may have also rolled back.
"So, I'm sure she's not interested in buying it now that it's falling," Gundlach said. He added that he didn't have a Bitcoin price target.
Not interested
Looking at Gundlach's own opinion of Bitcoin, his advice was probably not favorable to the digital currency for his mother, as he is happy not to be a part of the hype.
"I’m going to let this mania go on without me," Gundlach said. "I philosophically don't believe it's unhackable," he said, adding that he's received pushback from "smart 20-somethings."
There has been divided opinion on Bitcoin between large and traditional investors, and while Gundlach is happy rather to skip it than to berate it, there has been a big slating coming from Dimon.
The JPMorgan CEO said he would fire any trader who was transacting Bitcoin. Bitcoin is "worse than tulip bulbs," Dimon said.
"It's interesting that somebody that high-profile is out there with such an interesting statement," Gundlach said about Dimon.