Longtime crypto critic Jim Cramer appears to have changed his mind – at least when it comes to Bitcoin. “You can’t kill it,” the Mad Money host said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
Along with Warren Buffett and his late business partner, the CNBC host was famously bearish on cryptocurrencies. But Cramer says Munger missed the boat on Bitcoin.
“The late Charlie Munger, who was so brilliant in so many things, was blind to this,” Cramer said.
Cramer's comments come as the number one cryptocurrency by market capitalization surpassed $45,000 on January 1 for the first time since April 2022. In June of the same year, Cramer noticed growing pessimism toward cryptocurrencies in Silicon Valley following the latest market collapse, which he dubbed “Crypto Monday.”
“A lot of younger people and people who borrowed money are going to disappear today if they're not careful,” Cramer said at the time.
Cramer's track record of shady calls caused multiple eye rolls among crypto believers and even inspired an Inverse Cramer meme and applications for an Inverse Cramer ETF. The hook? Do the opposite of everything Cramer says. And now that he's getting interested in Bitcoin, some crypto believers are worried.
“Shit, now Bitcoin is dead,” wrote prominent Bitcoiner Dan Held on Twitter.
“Does this mean BTC is doomed?” said Amro Shihadah, Director of Operations at Nillion.
Cramer's tone began to change in November after Bitcoin surpassed $38,000, which also led some to speculate about a subsequent decline, believing the opposite of everything Cramer had predicted would occur.
Despite his earlier comments, Cramer today called Bitcoin a technological marvel and noted that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was unable to shut it down.
“It is a reality and a technological marvel,” Cramer added. “I think people need to start realizing that it's here to stay. The SEC was against it all along.”
While Cramer may be changing his tune on Bitcoin, he noted that the enthusiasm doesn't translate to the crypto market as a whole.
“But that doesn’t mean that all of them will remain,” Cramer said. “But I think this is about a remarkable comeback that was unexpected. Except for all the cops who were right.”
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.