Norwegian Billionaire Who Called For Bitcoin Ban Becomes Bitcoin Investor
In a rather comedic turn of events, Norwegian investing mogul Øystein Stray Spetalen purchased cryptocurrency exchange company, MiraiEx, only days after calling for a nationwide ban on Bitcoin. Talk about a 180!
Spetalen's stance on Bitcoin was quite firm before this very unexpected purchase. Concerns of the cryptocurrencies egregious CO2 omission bringing harmful effects to the environment made BTC #1 on wealthy businessman's hit list. The powerful investor took to the Dun & Bradstreet (DNB) Invest conference to address is problems with this ever-growing form of currency.
"The only thing I have made an analysis of is that Bitcoin today consumes as much energy as all of Norway’s energy consumption. If one really meant anything about Bitcoin, the authorities and the EU should ban it immediately," says Spetalen in the conference," We are doing well with the payment systems that are in place today."
He also dismissed the expected surge of cryptocurrency on Bloomberg, saying that BTC is "far too resource-intensive, far too costly and most importantly, it doesn’t preserve stability."
Though, only a mere week later, Spetalen's view on Bitcoin completely changed. After speaking with the successful founders of of MiraiEx - a cryptocurrency exchange company - he began to see the light. He took to Norwegian financial news site Finansavisen to discuss his change of heart.
"When the facts change, I change," he says.
He also attributes his new perspective to the successes of Kjell Inge Røkke, tycoon of the Norway's energy industry. Røkke made "an initial purchase of NOK 500 million worth of BTC," according to ZyCrypto. Røkke is obviously a huge advocate for Bitcoin, telling Bloomberg that one day, a single coin could "be worth a millions of dollars." This ignited the competitive side of Spetalen, further encouraging him to follow through with entering the Bitcoin game.
While the investor purchased an undisclosed amount of BTC, his investment in MiraiEx Spetalen is expecting to expand his $14 million net worth. With recent transactions like the $57,000 sale for one coin on March 15, it's quite easy to understand Spetalen's sudden turnaround. The phenomenon of Bitcoin may continue to rave across the world, but a number of Norway's financial experts highly doubt that the country will follow in everyone's steps.
We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds Norway's BTC market - and the constantly changing opinions of Spetalen on the matter.
Sources: Bloomberg, ZyCrypto, Finansavisen, Cryptoslate
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