Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of Softbank Group Corp., had experienced what many were feeling during Bitcoin's biggest bull run: the fear of missing out, also known as FOMO. So he dumped a whole bunch of liquid assets into Bitcoin at the time, only to watch the digital cryptocurrency's value plunge over the past year.
Though Bitcoin has since rebounded just slightly, it hasn't reached anywhere near what it was a little over a year ago, which is why Son, who also owns part of the Sprint wireless company here in the United States, decided to cut his losses and bail out entirely.
According to reports, Son lost the equivalent of about $130 million by selling all of his Bitcoin, though this is hardly a drop in the bucket when it comes to his roughly $24 billion net worth. Still, it's a major loss for this otherwise savvy businessman, as well as a warning sign to others not to get caught up in all of the Bitcoin hype.
It was apparently another businessman by the name of Peter Briger, a co-chairman at the global investment management firm Fortress Investment Group, who first convinced Son to invest in Bitcoin. At the time, Son's Softbank was in the process of acquiring Fortress as part of its portfolio of holdings.
The reason that Briger gave, reports indicate, is that Bitcoin had been so bullish at the time, and Fortress "had been investing in Bitcoin since 2013, and by late 2017 was seeing absolutely unheard-of returns on that investment."
But this would turn out to be a big mistake for Son, who after watching Bitcoin spiral into near oblivion in early 2018, decided to cut and run.
"As the WSJ (The Wall Street Journal) report points out, this 'previously unreported bitcoin loss shows that even some of the world's most sophisticated and wealthiest investors got caught up in the frenzy,'" writes Siamak Masnavi for CryptoGlobe, referring to the original WSJ report about Son's misfortune.
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Some investors are still claiming that Bitcoin will reach $250,000 per "coin" by 2022
It remains to be seen what will ultimately become of Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency lineup. But one thing is for sure: Son didn't play his cards right, and he most certainly paid a massive price for it.
Still, some are suggesting that Bitcoin will continue to rebound in the coming years, including technology investor Tim Draper. Described as a "legend" by CryptoGlobe, Draper stated during a recent interview that he believes Bitcoin will shoot the moon by 2022, or 2023 at the latest, reaching a per-coin price of $250,000.
"... he will probably also tell you that had Mr. Son not panicked and HODLed (held on for dear life), his Bitcoin investment could have become another one of his great investments," writes Masnavi.
On the other hand, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, is convinced that Bitcoin is headed straight for zero in the very near future, and that anyone who tries to invest in it will be sorry in the end.
"Remember: Bitcoin isn't backed by gold," Adams wrote prior to the Bitcoin collapse.
"It isn't backed by anything at all. There's nothing technically superior to Bitcoin compared to other crypto currencies such as Ethereum or Z-cash. As a result, nearly all the growth in Bitcoin over the last few months was based on speculative greed, where people hope to cash in on the bubble of crypto currencies even though they don't understand the real risk."
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