The story of the Bitcoin of Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, is an incredible one.
As Business Insider reports, Son said he invested 1% of his assets in Bitcoin some time ago, following a friend’s suggestion.
The problem is that he had made this investment at the end of 2017, in the middle of a speculative bubble, and although we don’t know the price at which he bought or the amount of BTC purchased, the investment is estimated to have been around $200 million.
However, at the end of December 2017, the speculative bubble burst, and from its peak of over $20,000 on December 17th, the price of Bitcoin fell to $6,000 at the beginning of February 2018.
Son then said he didn’t understand Bitcoin well and spent a lot of time monitoring its price movements after investing.
In fact, he stated that he spent about five minutes a day, every day, observing Bitcoin price fluctuations, and this would distract his concentration from his business.
At a certain point, he therefore decided that he got tired of checking the price of bitcoin every day and therefore decided to get out of it.
Unfortunately for him, in the course of 2018 the price of bitcoin did not return to the high at the end of 2017, so he was forced to sell at a loss.
He claims to have lost about $50 million, but according to a reconstruction in the Wall Street Journal, he lost almost $130 million.
Despite the loss, he said he felt much better having come out of this investment, but by the end of 2020 the price of BTC was back to its highs.
In other words, if he had waited another two years or so before selling, he would not have lost it and perhaps even gained something.
The CEO of Softbank and the Bitcoin FOMO
This story is incredible, but it is much closer to reality than it may appear to those who are unfamiliar with this world.
Firstly, it is unfortunately very common for people who know little about BTC to be tempted to buy during a speculative bubble, i.e. driven by an excess of euphoria, due to a sudden and significant increase in value.
The so-called Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is a powerful stimulus that clouds reason, and leads to reckless actions, such as buying at very high prices.
Moreover, there’s the constant checking of the price during the bullish phases, and it also affected Son, despite his experience.
Investors with more experience in this sector know that it is better to set long term goals, unless they want to trade intraday, and patience often pays off when it comes to bitcoin investments.
Finally, Son proves once again, and all the more so, that to invest in bitcoin one really has to have nerves, and a lot of calm. Emotions, including impatience, can cause a lot of damage, not only financially.
For this reason, it is always advisable to study this type of asset very well before deciding to invest in it.
