Former "The Bachelor" star Matt James has a piece of advice for Chris Harrison, former host of "The Bachelor": “Buy bitcoin.” The embattled host received a reported $25 million exit package after leaving the show amid a racism controversy.
“The smartest thing that could be done with any of the payout would be to buy as much bitcoin as possible,” James told Yahoo Finance. “Because right now, it's at an all-time low if you're looking at the past few months.”
James said he sees an investment in bitcoin as doubling and “going to the moon” and “reaching over $100,000 by the end of the year.”
“I think that anybody who comes into a large amount of money should at least consider looking at the asset class because of where it's gone, where it's trending, and what the future looks like, taking into account inflation,” James explained.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have experienced volatility over the last several months — bitcoin surged to a record high of more than $63,000 in April before losing more than 45% in value to a low of less than $34,000.
While bitcoin (BTC-USD) has rebounded from its lows in the first half of the year, they still remain off their highs.
“When you're dealing with things that are volatile, you're going to have price swings,” James said. “If you don't have a long-term trajectory on bitcoin, then you could be flustered when you see prices going up and down in the near term. But if you have eyes toward the future, then I think it would make sense to be paid in a currency that's going to outperform the dollar going forward.”
The former NFL player said that if he still played sports, he would “definitely” want to be paid in part or in full in bitcoin.
James said he plans to hold bitcoin for the long term, and considers himself “a bitcoin maximalist.”
“I haven't sold anything that I bought in through the dip," he said. "Fortunately, I had a little bit of cash reserve, and I was able to load up on what some people were trying to get rid of.”
"The Bachelor" star explained his bitcoin philosophy “as a hedge against inflation and protecting my wealth long term.”
The Federal Reserve has reiterated views that inflation spikes are transitory, expressing reluctance to taper quantitative easing, indicating interest rate hikes won’t happen until next year.
“It doesn't look like the Fed's planning on raising interest rates anytime soon. So I just want to make sure that my money is worth more in the future. And one of the seamless ways of doing that is investing in an asset that is trending in the right direction and there's a limited supply of. It's a very simple view for me, and it's a very simple strategy— just buy bitcoin and hold.”
James has partnered with BlockFi, a financial services company for crypto investors, and said companies like BlockFi help him “earn bitcoin by holding my bitcoin.”
“It was very seamless in terms of wanting to work with a company that had the same financial vision that I have as well as similar views," James said. "They're co-founded by a woman. It happens to be diverse as well. And it plays into the story that we try to tell our students that we work with in these underserved communities. And that's really doing your own research.”
Kristin Myers is a reporter and anchor for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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