A billionaire in his own right, Cook added that he didn't plan to invest any of Apple's $200 billion cash horde in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed that he is a cryptocurrency investor, but poured cold water on the idea of the third-largest company in America either accepting cryptocurrency in payment for its iPhones and Macs, or putting any of its corporate treasury into Bitcoin.
Speaking at The New York Times' DealBook Online Summit on Tuesday, Cook said that after researching crypto personally, he came to the conclusion:
"It's reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio. I've been researching it for a while and I think it's interesting."
He replied after being specifically asked about both Bitcoin and Ether, but didn't specify what cryptocurrencies he was invested in.
A billionaire in his own right, Cook added that he didn't plan to invest any of Apple's $200 billion cash horde in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, saying:
"I don't think people buy Apple stock to get exposure to crypto."
Rumors that Apple had bought $2.5 billion in Bitcoin swirled briefly on Crypto Twitter in July.
Nor is accepting crypto payments for its products "something we have immediate plans to do," Cook said during his DealBook interview.
Following a lawsuit by Epic Games, Apple was just ordered to open its App Store, allowing developers to allow payment through external sources rather than Apple, which takes a cut of up to 30%. That could open the door to iPhone developers accepting payment in crypto, Decrypt noted recently.
Crypto Twitter Weighs In
Needless to say, a CEO at Cook's level endorsing crypto in any way — even though he was careful to say that he was not giving financial advice — lit up crypto-Twitter.
Reactions ranged from Binance CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao's "probably not a big deal" to MicroStrategy CEO and corporate Bitcoin investment champion Michael Saylor opining that if Apple would "convert their treasury to a Bitcoin Standard, it would be worth at least a trillion dollars to their shareholders."
A more nuanced Anthony Pompliano noted that it "shouldn't surprise anyone that a technologist is interested in new technologies."
