Billionaire Investor Philippe Laffont Regrets Missing Bitcoin Boom

• Billionaire hedge fund manager Philippe Laffont admits he wakes up at 3 am regretting not buying Bitcoin earlier, calling himself an idiot for missing out.
• He previously avoided Bitcoin due to its extreme volatility being double or triple that of the already volatile NASDAQ, but believes this is now decreasing.
• Laffont calculates Bitcoin could reach US$4-5 trillion market cap by comparing it to global wealth of US$450-500 trillion, suggesting BTC could grow from 0.5% to 1-2% of world net worth.
• He rejects extreme predictions, though acknowledges factors like global de-dollarisation could support Bitcoins bull case.

Billionaire investor Philippe Laffont regrets not getting into Bitcoin earlier, but he also mulls over when the right entry point might be. Speaking to Joe Kernen, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBCs Squawk Box, Laffont said the total market cap of BTC could hit US$45 trillion (AU$67.6 trillion).

The co-founder of hedge fund Coatue Management said that he wakes up every day at 3:00 in the morning regretting not having bought the OG crypto.

And Im like, why am I such an idiot? What have I been waiting for? Not being involved in it? And it just goes up and up in the past.

So, why didnt he get involved in Bitcoin earlier? Likely because of volatility.

[Bitcoin] is double or triple the volatility of the NASDAQ. [The] NASDAQ is already pretty volatile. Why do I need to deal with this?

Related: Pompliano-Linked ProCap Buys 3,724 BTC as It Prepares for $1 B SPAC Debut

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Though Laffont suggests that Bitcoins volatility as an asset class is coming down.

Still, he isnt quite sure when to start deploying capital into BTC.

Do I own it now? Do I own it tomorrow? In a few days? But every day I do think, why do I not own it?

He says thats the thing about being a good investor. Its not only about holding the right investment, but also that sometimes you have to change your mind and you have to just say, well, I made a mistake and Im changing my mind.

So how does Laffont measure Bitcoins future worth? Does he see it as part of golds market cap?

The billionaire says he starts with the world market cap so, real estate, bonds, equities, private businesses, etc. which is around US$450 trillion (AU$690 trillion) to US$500 trillion (AU$766 trillion).

He puts the global equities market at roughly US$120 trillion (AU$184 trillion) and gold at US$20 trillion (AU$30 trillion).

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Given that the current Bitcoin market cap is just US$2 trillion (AU$3 trillion), Laffont believes it could double or even quadruple:

Lets say [Bitcoin] represents half a per cent of the net worth of the world. Could it go to one or two? [&] Could it double over a period of time?

However, he rejects, what he calls more aggressive estimates, of a US$100 trillion (AU$153 trillion) market cap. Recall that Michael Saylor believes that BTC will cost US$21 million (AU$32 million) per coin within the next 21 years thats a US$441 trillion (AU$675 trillion) market cap.

If nominal global wealth grows by 46 per cent per year, Bitcoins market share would be an eye-watering 3341 per cent.

Impossible? Maybe. Laffont doesnt suggest it can happen, but says there are some other reasons for a Bitcoin bull case:

Weve talked about the de dollarisation of the world, the end of US exceptionalism. So those would be some other reasons.

Read also: US Housing Regulator to Probe Cryptos Role in Mortgage Eligibility