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'Wolf of Wall Street' Jordan Belfort says 'massive' regulation of crypto would lead to mainstream adoption and let bitcoin and ethereum soar

Jordan BelfortCNN screenshot

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Jordan Belfort, the infamous trader behind the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street," called for "massive" regulation of crypto and decried tether as a scam in a wide-ranging interview with CoinDesk.

"The sooner that massive regulation comes into the market, the better it is for bitcoin, stablecoins, and everything else," said Belfort, who deemed himself a long-term crypto bull.

Belfort added that fears of regulation coming to crypto are misguided, pointing to the history of regulators taming the junk-bond market.

"Everyone said, 'Oh no, the regulators are coming in! [But ultimately] the market got much bigger, so I think it's a good thing," he said.

Commenting on recent reports that tether execs are under investigation for bank fraud, Belfort doubled down on his long-time criticism of tether, crypto's biggest stablecoin, calling it a scam and saying he's been "shocked" by how little legal action has taken place so far.

In a 2018 interview, Belfort said he suspected tether was a "massive fraud," arguing that tether issuances could be used to prop up the price of bitcoin. Some academics have drawn similar conclusions, though others have differed.

Belfort criticized unrealistic price targets for bitcoin and ethereum, which he says are used to gin up hype and are disconnected from the bull case for crypto. Belfort says he owns both assets.

"I think [bitcoin] definitely has a great chance of being looked at as digital gold," he said, eyeing an end-of-year price range of $45,000-$70,000, up from around $40,000 on Wednesday. For ethereum, Belfort said he's looking at $3,700 to $4,500, up from $2,300.

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