Former crypto skeptic Carl Icahn, the founder of Icahn Enterprises, told Bloomberg he's fix to enter the crypto market place in a "big way" — teasing an investment of around $one.5 billion.

Icahn is an investor and sometime advisor to the Trump administration, who has a net worth of $15.6 billion according to Forbes. In 2018, Icahn told CNBC that crypto is "ridiculous" and added, "perhaps I'm too old for them, but I wouldn't touch that stuff."

But speaking on Wed, Icahn explained he'south now considering a large investment and that entering the market in such a manner would "not exist to buy a few coins or something":

"I mean, a big way for us would exist a billion dollars, billion-and-a-one-half dollars ... I'm not going to say exactly."

Icahn joins a growing list of boyfriend billionaires who accept changed their melody over crypto in the past 12 months. When asked virtually what cryptocurrencies he has his eyes on, the billionaire kept his cards close to his breast and emphasized that:

"Much of the cryptocurrency issued today will not survive, simply nosotros believe cryptocurrency in i grade or another might exist here to stay. To be articulate, we have never bought any cryptocurrency, but we are studying information technology."

Icahn believes that cryptocurrencies that don't at to the lowest degree serve as a store of value volition be flushed out of the market place equally "at that place'south gotta be some course of safety of value in that location" to survive.

Icahn Enterprises is a $fourteen.5-billion American conglomerate with investments in CVR, Pep Boys and Trump Entertainment Resorts.

Ryan Adams, Ether proponent and founder of crypto investment firm Mythos Capital and Bankless, speculated on Twitter that Icahn's recent kite flying in the media may point he has already entered the marketplace:

"If Carl Icahn hasn't already bought a billion dollars worth of ETH and BTC why would he announce he's nigh to buy a billion dollars worth of ETH and BTC."

The billionaire expanded farther on his views well-nigh crypto to Bloomberg, saying he now thinks that skepticism over the value of crypto is a "little wrong-headed," every bit he questions the intrinsic value of the United States dollar in comparison to crypto, which could be a store of value and hedge against inflation.

"Well, what's the value of a dollar? The merely value of the dollar actually, is because you can use information technology to pay taxes."

When Ichan was asked "what is your use case?" for crypto, the 85-twelvemonth-sometime spoke most the Ethereum network, noting that "with Ethereum, it'southward the underlying blockchain. So, Ethereum has 2 things: Yous can use it equally a payment system, yous can utilise information technology equally a store of value."

"Bitcoin to me is but a store of value," he added.