On Tuesday, while answering a question asked by Andrew Ross Sorkin in an interview, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said he owns cryptocurrencies and has had a personal interest in them for some time. The CEO was asked at The New York Times DealBook conference if he owned Bitcoin or Ethereum. “I do. I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio. I’m not giving anyone investment advice by the way”, he said.
The CEO made sure to dismiss ideas that he owned these cryptocurrencies because Apple, like Elon Musk-owned Tesla, may begin to accept them as a means of payment for Apple products. The CEO said that he’s had an interest in cryptocurrencies for some time and that this interest was completely from a “personal point of view”.
On a firm note, Tim Cook also said that there is zero possibility that Apple would be using corporate funds to buy crypto or as an investment. “I wouldn’t go invest in crypto, not because I wouldn’t invest my own money, but because I don’t think people buy Apple stock to get exposure to crypto”, he said.
The 61-year-old is worth 1.4 billion, according to Forbes. He received 5 million Apple shares in August worth $750 million as of that time, and will receive additional grants of the company’s stock through 2026; the number of shares is dependent on the company’s stock performance. It is important to know that the billionaire plans to donate his entire fortune to charity.
Apple does not own any cryptocurrency product or service and has not announced or intimated plans to do so. The company, however, allows cryptocurrency apps on its App Store and allows users to make payments in cryptocurrency using Apple Pay. If Apple will ever associate itself with cryptocurrencies, that possibility should not be expected soonest. In 2019, An Apple Pay executive mentioned that the company saw long-term potentials in cryptocurrency, so the company may be waiting for quite a long time to join the bandwagon. It’s “not something we have immediate plans to do”, Tim Cook said on Tuesday.
Speaking about cryptocurrency, Bitcoin and Ethereum hit new record highs on Tuesday.
