Latest news with #Laffont
Yahoo
25-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why a billionaire investor thinks bitcoin's total market value could more than double to $5 trillion
Philippe Laffont, the founder of hedge fund Coatue, thinks bitcoin's market value could soar to $5 trillion. His forecast implies bitcoin's market cap more than doubling from its $2.1 trillion level. Laffont said there are several reasons he's become more bullish on the crypto. The total value of all bitcoins could more than double, according to one billionaire investor who says he wishes he had bought the crypto sooner. Philippe Laffont, the founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, said he added bitcoin to his firm's Fantastic 40 list, a collection of investments it sees as major winners through 2030. That's partly because Laffont believes the total market cap of the world's biggest crypto could rise to as much as $5 trillion one day. That implies bitcoin's total value rising 134% from a market cap of around $2.1 trillion on Wednesday. "I have not gotten involved in bitcoin. I wake up every day at 3 in the morning and I'm like, 'why am I such an idiot? What have I been waiting for, not being involved in it?' And it just goes up and up," Laffont told CNBC on Wednesday. Bitcoin's price has been volatile this year amid tariff-related volatility and a mix of geopolitical and economic concerns. The crypto has rallied to $107,000 in recent days, bringing its price up 14% year-to-date. It hit an all-time high above $111,000 in May. This embedded content is not available in your region. Laffont, who said he initially brushed off bitcoin as an attractive investment, added that there were a few reasons why he's warming up to the cryptocurrency and sees the value soaring. For one, bitcoin's current valuation relative to the rest of the world seems too low, according to Laffont. The net worth of all world assets hovers around $500 trillion, Laffont said. That means bitcoin represents around 0.5% of the world's total assets, but Laffont thinks it's reasonable for bitcoin to represent 1%-2% of the total. Global stocks, by comparison, make up around $120 trillion of the world's assets, while gold makes up around $20 trillion, he added. Second, bitcoin's volatility appears to be declining relative to stocks. Bitcoin dropped 11% in the days after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping array of tariffs. That's a slightly less severe decline when compared to the Nasdaq 100, which dropped 12% from April 2 to its low on April 8. "I always thought, bitcoin's amazing, but it's double or triple the volatility of the Nasdaq," Laffont said. "It seems its volatility as an asset class is coming down." Third, bitcoin could benefit from concerns around de-dollarization and the end of US exceptionalism. Global investors have shown some signs that they're less willing to park their wealth in US assets after this year's tariff-fueled sell-off. More than half of global investors surveyed by Bank of America in June said they believed international equities would be the best-performing asset over the next five years, compared to just 23% of investors who said they believed US equities would be the top performer. The US Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, has also declined 10% year-to-date. Laffont said he was now considering purchasing bitcoin. "Do I own it now? Do I own it tomorrow or in a few days? But every day, I do think, 'Why do I not own it?'" Laffont said. "Sometimes you have to change your mind and you have to say, well, I made a mistake," he added. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Time of India
25-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Bitcoin market cap may double to $5,000,000,000,000. This billionaire hedge fund manager explains why
Bitcoin market cap could more than double to $5 trillion, according to Philippe Laffont , founder of hedge fund Coatue Management . The billionaire hedge fund manager admitted he regrets not investing in Bitcoin earlier, calling it a missed opportunity that now keeps him up at night. In an interview with CNBC, Laffont revealed that although he hasn't yet invested in Bitcoin, he now believes it could easily double from its current market cap of $2 trillion to $4–5 trillion in the coming years. 'Every day I wake up at 3 AM thinking, 'Why am I such an idiot for not owning Bitcoin?'' he said, acknowledging the growing institutional interest in the asset. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Join new Free to Play WWII MMO War Thunder War Thunder Play Now Undo While Bitcoin isn't a company, Laffont said he included it conceptually in his reimagined version of the Nasdaq 100, comparing its role in the modern economy to that of gold. 'We added Bitcoin. Obviously it's not a company, but as a new asset class with a $2 trillion market cap, it deserves attention,' he explained. Laffont argued that Bitcoin's volatility—once a major deterrent—is declining. 'During recent downturns, Bitcoin didn't fall any more than the Nasdaq, which is a shift,' he noted. Live Events He also sees Bitcoin gaining traction amid global macro shifts, including de-dollarisation and questions around U.S. economic dominance. Using global wealth benchmarks, Laffont speculated that if Bitcoin were to go from representing 0.5% to even 1–2% of global net worth, its valuation could skyrocket. 'Some say Bitcoin could hit $100 trillion—I'm not going that far. But could it double from here? Absolutely,' he said, adding, 'Sometimes, being a good investor means admitting you're wrong and changing your mind.' Bitcoin's price has jumped 14% year-to-date and recently hit $107,000, climbing toward its all-time high of over $111,000 reached in May.
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Why a billionaire investor thinks bitcoin's total market value could more than double to $5 trillion
The total value of all bitcoins could more than double, according to one billionaire investor who says he wishes he had bought the crypto sooner. Philippe Laffont, the founder of hedge fund Coatue Management, said he added bitcoin to his firm's Fantastic 40 list, a collection of investments it sees as major winners through 2030. That's partly because Laffont believes the total market cap of the world's biggest crypto could rise to as much as $5 trillion one day. That implies bitcoin's total value rising 134% from a market cap of around $2.1 trillion on Wednesday. "I have not gotten involved in bitcoin. I wake up every day at 3 in the morning and I'm like, 'why am I such an idiot? What have I been waiting for, not being involved in it?' And it just goes up and up," Laffont told CNBC on Wednesday. Bitcoin's price has been volatile this year amid tariff-related volatility and a mix of geopolitical and economic concerns. The crypto has rallied to $107,000 in recent days, bringing its price up 14% year-to-date. It hit an all-time high above $111,000 in May. Laffont, who said he initially brushed off bitcoin as an attractive investment, added that there were a few reasons why he's warming up to the cryptocurrency and sees the value soaring. For one, bitcoin's current valuation relative to the rest of the world seems too low, according to Laffont. The net worth of all world assets hovers around $500 trillion, Laffont said. That means bitcoin represents around 0.5% of the world's total assets, but Laffont thinks it's reasonable for bitcoin to represent 1%-2% of the total. Global stocks, by comparison, make up around $120 trillion of the world's assets, while gold makes up around $20 trillion, he added. Second, bitcoin's volatility appears to be declining relative to stocks. Bitcoin dropped 11% in the days after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping array of tariffs. That's a slightly less severe decline when compared to the Nasdaq 100, which dropped 12% from April 2 to its low on April 8. "I always thought, bitcoin's amazing, but it's double or triple the volatility of the Nasdaq," Laffont said. "It seems its volatility as an asset class is coming down." Third, bitcoin could benefit from concerns around de-dollarization and the end of US exceptionalism. Global investors have shown some signs that they're less willing to park their wealth in US assets after this year's tariff-fueled sell-off. More than half of global investors surveyed by Bank of America in June said they believed international equities would be the best-performing asset over the next five years, compared to just 23% of investors who said they believed US equities would be the top performer. The US Dollar Index, which measures the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, has also declined 10% year-to-date. Laffont said he was now considering purchasing bitcoin. "Do I own it now? Do I own it tomorrow or in a few days? But every day, I do think, 'Why do I not own it?'" Laffont said. "Sometimes you have to change your mind and you have to say, well, I made a mistake," he added.
CNBC
14-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Bitcoin becoming 'more central' to portfolios as its volatility cools, Coatue's Philippe Laffont says
While investors may have been put off by bitcoin's volatility in its early years, a few factors are emerging that will make the flagship crypto a key part of a portfolio, according to Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont. The founder of the tech-focused hedge fund spoke Thursday at Coinbase's State of Crypto Summit in New York City. For starters, while bitcoin has managed to surge nearly 13% in 2025, Laffont said that the cryptocurrency's volatility has come down over time. Bitcoin's dramatic price swings have been a deterrent for potential investors in the crypto – and at one point, this volatility kept Coatue from getting into bitcoin, he said. "It's intriguing to me that maybe … the cost of getting into bitcoin is shrinking," Laffont said on stage Thursday at Coinbase's State of Crypto Summit in New York City. "If the beta shrinks, that would be very interesting." Beta is a measurement of an asset's volatility compared to the that of the market. Institutional investors' move to embrace bitcoin was also a sign of maturity for the cryptocurrency, he said. Consider that BlackRock was one of the leaders of the charge to bring bitcoin ETFs to market. Further, Laffont pointed out bitcoin's performance in 2022 and how it has changed over time. The flagship cryptocurrency fell more than 60% in 2022, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 33%. In contrast, from April 2 to April 10 — the days following the announcement of President Donald Trump's tariffs — bitcoin retreated about 5% and the Nasdaq fell more than 6%. Additionally, the number of bitcoin wallets that have held the crypto for at least a month and sell their full position has come down "a lot," Laffont said, which suggests investors are holding onto the crypto for the long term rather than trading it. Bitcoin accounts for a small amount of the world's net worth – about $2 trillion out of $500 trillion, he said. If one assumes bitcoin will continue to grow and be seen as valuable by more people, then it "has to become more central" to a portfolio, Laffont said. Coatue has invested in private and public crypto companies like data provider Dune Analytics, bitcoin miner Hut 8 and artificial intelligence play CoreWeave. The latter company has a partnership with bitcoin miner Core Scientific. The bitcoin opportunity wasn't immediately clear to Laffont, however. "Every night, I wake up at about three in the morning and I go, 'What an idiot. Why didn't I invest more in bitcoin?'" he said. Laffont described his investment philosophy as one that emphasizes the importance of simple, "obvious" ideas over "complicated" ones. While crypto market participants have deliberated over the use cases and potential of the cryptocurrency for years, Laffont said he overlooked the simplest aspect of all. "That … as long as other people think it's valuable, it gets more valuable over time – and that's what we missed," he said. "Now I go back and I say, this is crazy – why wouldn't everyone have one or two or 3% or 4% of your assets in something like bitcoin that … protects you against inflation?" Laffont identified three cohorts of his client base: those who are hands off and leave the investing to him, those wondering "why did you miss one of the biggest trends in the world," and the risk-averse ones who feel comfortable "as long as you don't dabble in crypto." The latter "is the dying population," Laffont said. "Every year there's a little bit less of them. That's the spectrum that you get from institutional investors. Hopefully, we see that distribution continue to change." While Laffont has become more of a bitcoin enthusiast than he used to be, he still told summit attendees not to get carried away and to approach the cryptocurrency with basic investing principles. "For those of you that think bitcoin is going to be important, my recommendation is never make it such a big portion of your portfolio that it becomes the driving factor of the portfolio," he said. "You're going to make way more money by having a smaller position that you can keep for 10 years than the big one that worries you all the time."
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Billionaire Philippe Laffont Has 30% of Coatue's $22.7 Billion Portfolio Invested in 4 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks -- and Nvidia Isn't One of Them
Quarterly-filed Form 13Fs allow investors to track which stocks Wall Street's brightest money managers have been buying and selling. Though Nvidia was once billionaire Philippe Laffont's top holding, he's been a persistent seller of Wall Street's artificial intelligence (AI) darling for the last two years. As of the end of March, a mix of four well-known AI hardware and applications companies made up roughly 30% of Coatue Management's invested assets. 10 stocks we like better than Meta Platforms › Important data releases happen with frequency on Wall Street. A seemingly endless parade of earnings reports, economic data releases, and policy changes from the Donald Trump administration, can make it easy for something important to get overlooked by investors. Arguably the most-telling of all data releases occurred three weeks ago on May 15. This marked the deadline for institutional investors overseeing at least $100 million in assets to file Form 13F with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A 13F provides investors with a snapshot of which stocks Wall Street's smartest money managers bought and sold in the latest quarter (in this case, the first quarter). While Warren Buffett is the most-followed asset manager on Wall Street, he's far from the only billionaire investor with a phenomenal track record. Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont, who closed out March with $22.7 billion in assets under management, has a propensity for making money in the stock market. Whereas Buffett is a staunch value investor, Laffont leans heavily into growth stocks and companies riding the latest technological waves, such as the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. Although Laffont ended March overseeing 70 stocks, just four of these positions (all AI stocks) account for roughly 30% of Coatue's invested assets. Interestingly enough, AI leader Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) isn't among these top AI assets, with Laffont persistently selling shares of Nvidia over the last two years. Though Nvidia was Coatue's largest holding from April 1, 2023 – Dec. 31, 2023, a combination of profit-taking and other possible nefarious factors has led to a notable reduction in this position. In four of the last five quarters, social media titan Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) has been billionaire Philippe Laffont's top holding. Coatue's more than 3.75-million-share stake equated to almost $2.2 billion in market value at the end of March. While Meta is wagering heavily on an AI future, the lion's share of its revenue and profits are currently derived from advertising. In March, Meta's family of apps, which includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Threads, and Facebook Messenger, attracted an average of 3.43 billion daily active people. Since no other social platform comes particularly close to luring as many people on a daily basis, businesses are eager to advertise on Meta's social media sites. In turn, Meta often enjoys significant ad-pricing power. Mark Zuckerberg's company is already deploying generative AI solutions within its advertising platform. Giving businesses access to generative AI allows them to personalize their message(s) to specific users, with the hope of improving click-through rates. Meta Platforms also has the luxury of an enviable treasure chest. Its cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities collectively topped $70 billion at the end of March, and the company's operations generated over $24 billion in net cash through the first three months of the year. Meta has the luxury of aggressively investing in AI, as well as slow-stepping the rollout of new services, thanks to its pristine balance sheet. The only quarter where Meta Platforms wasn't the No. 1 holding for Coatue Management since the start of 2024 (the fourth quarter of 2024) saw e-commerce kingpin Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) take hold of the top spot. Amazon has been a top-four holding for Laffont's fund for eight consecutive quarters. Coatue's billionaire chief is more than likely attracted to the rapid growth in Amazon's cloud infrastructure service platform, Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to estimates from tech analysis firm Canalys, AWS entered 2025 accounting for a 33% share of global cloud infrastructure service spending. Based on Amazon's first-quarter operating results, AWS is pacing $117 billion in annual run-rate revenue. Amazon hasn't been shy about incorporating generative AI solutions into AWS. It's also giving customers the tools to build and deploy large language models (LLMs). LLMs can be used to answer queries as virtual agents and summarize text, while generative AI can improve various marketing aspects for businesses. Amazon's other high-growth ancillary segments, which includes subscription services (e.g., Prime) and advertising services, are playing key roles in its growth, too. Winning exclusive sports streaming deals with the NFL and NBA should afford Prime plenty of subscription pricing power. Meanwhile, attracting billions of visitors on a monthly basis is great news for the company's advertising operations. The third largest holding in billionaire Philippe Laffont's fund for a second consecutive quarter is world-leading chip fabrication company Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), which is commonly referred to as "TSMC." Even though Coatue's 13F shows that roughly 2 million shares of TSMC were sold during the first quarter, it still accounts for close to 6% of invested assets. Taiwan Semi can be best thought of as a critical part of the AI-data center supply chain. Its chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) technology is necessary for the packaging of high-bandwidth memory needed in AI-accelerated data centers. TSMC is in the process of increasing its CoWoS capacity from around 35,000 units per month in 2024 to 135,000 wafers per month by 2026. This should go a long way to resolving the AI-graphics processing unit (GPU) scarcity that's allowed Nvidia to charge a veritable arm and leg for its Hopper and Blackwell GPUs. Laffont's sizable wager on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing might also have to do with it building advanced-chip production facilities in the U.S. President Trump's threat of imposing tariffs on imports, including the possibility of semiconductor tariffs, is more of a moot point with TSMC investing in America. Something else worth noting is that TSMC is more than just AI chips. While advanced computing does comprise a majority of Taiwan Semi's net sales, it remains a key player in chip production for smartphones, Internet of Things devices, and next-generation vehicles. This revenue diversification might provide some buffer to Taiwan Semiconductor stock if an AI bubble forms and bursts. The fourth AI stock that, collectively with Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, accounts for about 30% of Coatue Management's $22.7 billion in invested assets is Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). Microsoft was Laffont's fifth-largest holding at the end of March, and it's been a top-five position in each of the last eight quarters. Similar to Meta and Amazon, Microsoft's artificial intelligence ties have to do with applying this game-changing technology to existing solutions. For instance, Azure is the world's No. 2 cloud infrastructure service platform by total spending, behind only AWS. Microsoft is aggressively deploying generative AI and LLM tools in Azure for its clients. In turn, it's seeing sales growth for Azure remain firmly in the double-digits (35% year-over-year growth on a constant currency basis for the March-ended quarter). Microsoft's legacy operations aren't slouches, either. Even though the growth heyday for Windows and Office is long gone, Microsoft's software still dominates on desktops and laptops. These sustainable, high-margin operating segments generate plenty of cash flow that the company can redirect toward cloud and AI initiatives, or perhaps Microsoft's bountiful capital-return program. Additionally, Microsoft is swimming in cash, which allows for an aggressive level of innovation and acquisitions that most companies can't match. It ended March with $79.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments, while generating $37 billion in net cash from operations in just three months. 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Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Sean Williams has positions in Amazon and Meta Platforms. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Billionaire Philippe Laffont Has 30% of Coatue's $22.7 Billion Portfolio Invested in 4 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks -- and Nvidia Isn't One of Them was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
