SoftBank's Son loses $130 mil on bitcoin: report

NEW YORK - Masayoshi Son, the billionaire founder of SoftBank Group Corp, made a huge personal bet on bitcoin just as prices for the digital currency peaked, losing more than $130 million when he sold out, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, quoting people familiar with the matter.

Son, who launched the world's biggest venture-capital fund on the strength of his long-term investing acumen, made the investment at the recommendation of a well-known bitcoin booster, whose investment firm SoftBank bought in 2017, it said.

The investment came at the peak of the bitcoin frenzy in late 2017 after the digital currency had already risen more than 10 fold that year. The exact size of the bet couldn't be determined, but bitcoin peaked at nearly $20,000 in mid-December 2017 and Son sold in early 2018 after bitcoin had plummeted, the paper said.

Bitcoin closed Monday at $5,381.05.

A SoftBank spokesman reportedly declined to comment on Son's behalf.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/business/softbank's-son-lost-130-mil.-on-bitcoin