{"id":2014,"date":"2017-10-24T01:02:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T01:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/?p=2014"},"modified":"2017-10-24T01:02:43","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T01:02:43","slug":"bitcoin-is-enron-in-the-making-saudi-prince-alwaleed-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/bitcoin-is-enron-in-the-making-saudi-prince-alwaleed-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin is ‘Enron in the making’, Saudi Prince Alwaleed says"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIYADH (Reuters) – Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns investment firm Kingdom Holding (4280.SE<\/a><\/span>), expressed scepticism about cryptocurrencies in an interview with CNBC on Monday, warning that bitcoin was like \u201cEnron in the making\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal arrives at the Elysee palace in Paris, France, to attend a meeting with French President, September 8 , 2016. REUTERS\/Philippe Wojazer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Prince Alwaleed, whose company invests in major U.S. companies such as Citigroup (C.N<\/a><\/span>) and Twitter (TWTR.N<\/a><\/span>), said a lack of regulation made such cryptocurrencies risky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t believe in this bitcoin thing. I think it\u2019s going to implode one day. It\u2019s Enron in the making,\u201d he said, referring to the U.S. energy company that filed for bankruptcy in 2001 after revelations of a widespread accounting fraud.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis thing does not make sense. It\u2019s unregulated. It\u2019s not under the control of the U.S. Federal Reserve or any other central bank,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bitcoin is a virtual currency that has gained more than 500 percent this year, more than any other tradable asset class.<\/p>\n

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Prince Alwaleed also said the valuation of electric car maker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O<\/a><\/span>) was \u201ctoo exuberant\u201d for him to invest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would rather not comment on that because maybe some people think the valuation is right, but it\u2019s not for me to enter [at] that price obviously. It\u2019s too exuberant for me right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that U.S. ride services company Lyft had been better priced than rival Uber [UBER.UL] when his investment firm bought into it.<\/p>\n

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FILE PHOTO: A Bitcoin sign is seen in a window in Toronto, Canada, May 8, 2014. REUTERS\/Mark Blinch\/File Photo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He said he was \u201cvery happy\u201d with his investment in Citigroup (C.N<\/a><\/span>) and saw potential for the share price to rise above $100. It has been trading at around $73.<\/p>\n

SAFETY VALVE<\/h3>\n

Prince Alwaleed also said he was not considering merging AccorHotels (ACCP.PA<\/a><\/span>) and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, in which Kingdom Holding owns stakes.<\/p>\n

On the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco, which its CEO reiterated would take place next year, Prince Alwaleed said the transaction would act as a \u201csafety valve\u201d for Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go 5 percent, there\u2019s nothing that prohibits you from going another 5 percent next year, and 5 percent the third year and fourth year, and so forth, depending on the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last year the country was considering listing about 5 percent of Aramco in a deal that could raise $100 billion, if the company is valued at about $2 trillion as hoped.<\/p>\n

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CEO Nasser on Monday brushed off reports about China emerging as a frontrunner in a possible plan to delay the IPO and sell shares to sovereign funds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2018m not a member of the government but I read these reports, and I will not be surprised if China will be looking at this opportunity,\u201d Prince Alwaleed said.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina depends on oil and will depend on oil for a long time to come. And Saudi Arabia is an anchor exporter of oil to China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source: Bitcoin is ‘Enron in the making’, Saudi Prince Alwaleed says<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIYADH (Reuters) – Billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns investment firm Kingdom Holding (4280.SE), expressed scepticism about cryptocurrencies in an interview with CNBC on Monday, warning that bitcoin was like \u201cEnron in the making\u201d. Saudi Arabian Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal arrives at the Elysee palace in Paris, France, to attend a meeting with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13826,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-other","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13826"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2014"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2018,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2014\/revisions\/2018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/wanfahminfaiz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}