Billionaire Ken Moelis Is Watching The Crypto Space, Compares It To Gold Rush Of 1848

What Happened: Ken Moelis, billionaire investor and head of global investment bank Moelis & Co (NYSE: MC) said he had been watching the cryptocurrency space carefully.

When asked whether he was considering a move into the space in an interview with Bloomberg, Moelis said, “Maybe on the personal side, definitely on the business side, we are focused on having expertise and we do.”

Moelis went on to say that “It’s a big market and there’s a lot of capital in there, there’s a lot of projects in the space…its like the Gold Rush of 1858.”

According to him, Moelis is in the business of providing people with the “picks and shovels” and hence should know what people want and what tools they need to be successful.

For the moment, Moelis plans to watch the space and continue to learn, saying, “I’m trying to keep track of it, and stay up to speed with it and I wouldn’t say I’m a total believer or a total non-believer.”

Read also: Berkshire Hathaway Invests $500M In Brazilian Digital Bank Nubank

The investment banker also commented on the meme-stock craze, where retail investors have benefited immensely from holding positions in stocks like GameStop Corp GME and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc AMC.

"They're just having fun - I think 70 to 80% of this is fun," he said. "When you go to a casino, the most boisterous, loudest craps table is always the one where everyone runs over because someone has made their point, they've predicted something."

Price Action: Moelis & Company stock closed at $54.64, 1.22%.

Bitcoin gained 0.55% during the day and stood at $36,855 at press time.

The entire crypto market lost 2.4% over the last 24-hours was at $1.54 trillion as of press time.