So Who Lost All The Money On Bitcoin? Masayoshi Son Of Softbank, That’s Who

So here’s a bit of fun and amusement. Bitcoin surged in price a while back. Then it fell in price again. Somewhere in that there’s going to be someone who bought near the peak and was left holding as the numbers fell back again. Who was that? Well, one identified is Masayoshi Son of Softbank. And what makes it all so piquant is that he was following the advice of a financial advisory company he’d just bought. Good buy there, eh?

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] The billionaire investor who has backed some of the world’s most celebrated technology start-ups lost $130 million on an ill-judged bet on bitcoin. Masayoshi Son, the founder of Softbank, racked up the heavy losses after a collapse in the value of the digital currency last year, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. [/perfectpullquote]

Of course, there’s no investor anywhere, ever, who has always made winning bets. The game is to win more on the gains than goes kablooie on the losers but still:

[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Mr Son is said to have made a large investment in bitcoin around the time that the digital currency came close to its peak in mid-December 2017, before selling his holding at the start of 2018. He was advised to make the investment by Peter Briger, co-chairman of Fortress Investment Group, an asset manager that Softbank bought in February 2017, The Wall Street Journal said.[/perfectpullquote]

It’s as above, that last part that makes it all so fun. For of course the company he just bought will have declined in value if that’s the sort of advice they were handing out. Plus the burn of those losses themselves.

Sure, capitalism’s still the best economic system anyone’s come up with as yet but it does have its fun moments as well.