Sebastian Siemiatkowski: We Need to Stop Pushing BTC So Heavily

Bitcoin has been growing heavily as of late. The currency is trading for nearly $38,000 at press time, and many investment firms are allowing their customers to begin investing in it granted they have no experience or are curious about its hedge properties. Bitcoin is now being viewed as a store of value, or rather a tool that can keep one’s wealth steady during times of economic strife, but according to Sebastian Siemiatkowski – the chief executive officer of Klarna AB – nobody should be promoting bitcoin in any way, shape or form right now.

Siemiatkowski: Financial Advisors Shouldn’t Promote BTC

In a recent interview, Siemiatkowski claimed that there is still too much risk when it comes to bitcoin. He says that the asset can put investors in danger, and that nobody should be encouraging them to get involved until volatility is controlled and more is understood about it. He says:

Whatever you think about bitcoins, what cannot continue is advertising this as a financial investment product with no protection.

He says that many financial advisors and industry experts have spent the last several months pushing the asset on their customers and discussing how strong it can be when it comes to stabilizing and diversifying portfolios, but as the CEO of a Swedish payment provider, he knows this completely violates many monetary rules. He commented that if he were to do such a thing, he’d face serious legal consequences, and that nobody should be taking it upon themselves to push BTC on anyone.

He states:

I would be put in jail for breaching laws around how you promote investments.

He further states that the whole idea of serving as a financial expert is that you potentially try to aid customers in the path they’ve chosen, but that it would be wrong to choose paths for them or try to instill certain ideas in their heads, which is what so many figures are doing nowadays. He isn’t naming names, but he knows several people in the industry that are crossing too many lines.

Clearly upset by the situation, Siemiatkowski mentioned:

That has to stop. That is a major risk right now blowing up for consumers all over the world. Politicians have to act on that now.

So Many Institutions

One of the big things that’s really got everyone interested and talking about bitcoin is the fact that so many large, institutional players are openly promoting it and putting their money into it. In the last six months alone, billion-dollar companies – including MicroStrategy, MassMutual and Stone Ridge – have all put hundreds of millions of dollars into the world’s leading digital asset by market cap, and this isn’t expected to stop at any point in 2021.

At the time of writing, Siemiatkowski’s company Klarna is expected to see further regulation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) come into play.

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