According to reports, Lord Hammond, former U.K. chancellor of exchequer has warned against investing in cryptocurrency. He said, “It’s gambling money,” noting that “people should be extremely cautious” and “Many regard them as closer to gaming than serious investing.” Nonetheless, he is currently serving as a senior advisor to a crypto firm.
An ex-British Chancellor of Exchequer warns about investing in cryptocurrency
Former British Chancellor Lord Philip Hammond has reportedly urged investors to be “extremely cautious” about investing in cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether.
Lord Hammond, a U.K. cabinet Minister was the chancellor for the exchequer between 2016 and 2019, foreign secretary (2014 to 2016) and defense secretary (2011 to 2014). In July 2014, he was elected to the House of Lords.
Commenting on whether one should invest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, he told The Mail on Sunday: “If a member of my family was asking me, I think what I’d do is draw their attention to the fact that large and reputable established asset managers are now increasingly dipping their toe.” The former chancellor of the exchequer emphasized: “But it is dipping a toe — it’s a tiny proportion of their asset base exposed to what is a highly volatile asset class.” He added:
It’s almost certainly not suitable for retail investors as a mainstream investment category … It’s gambling money. People should exercise extreme caution. These people see them more as a form of gambling than they are serious investment.
“I know plenty of people who have a small exposure to crypto assets but it is money they’ve written off,” he further opined.
Lord Hammond has been adamant about crypto investing and he now serves as senior advisor to the cryptocurrency firm Copper. He joined Copper in October. It provides infrastructure for digital assets to institutions, such as traders, wealth managers and crypto funds. The company was valued at $3B last month.
Lord Hammond said that he would never have joined an investment firm that focused solely on crypto-investing. He noted that the distributed ledger technology, however, will “eventually encompass the whole of what we currently think of as financial services.” He clarified: “My job with Copper is to raise the profile of this debate, make sure people are aware that there’s a huge opportunity here.”
The ex-chancellor of the exchequer made these remarks:
It is possible to grasp the potential of technology and make use of the fact that, despite what our European friends might think, London still remains the largest financial center in Europe.
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