'Shark Tank' investor Kevin O'Leary says bitcoin is too volatile for his portfolio — but says he would own a crypto ETF

• Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary told The Pomp Podcast that bitcoin is too volatile and illiquid for his portfolio but he would like to own a cryptocurrency ETF.
• "Give me the top 7 cryptocurrencies, put them into an ETF wrapper, and let me invest in it with liquidity so that if I want to buy a million dollars of it in the morning and sell a million dollars in the afternoon, I can do that in an ETF format," he said.
• O'Leary added that if the SEC approved a crypto ETF, more institutional investors would buy bitcoin.
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Shark Tank investor Kevin O'Leary told The Pomp Podcast on Tuesday that bitcoin is too volatile and illiquid for his portfolio, but he would consider owning a basket of cryptocurrencies in an ETF.

O'Leary has created multiple ETFs as the chairman of O'Shares, and he said that a crypto ETF could be the most liquid way to buy and sell bitcoin. The investor said that right now there are too many fees associated with getting in and out of bitcoin, but he does own a little bit of the coin right now.

"Give me the top 7 cryptocurrencies, put them into an ETF wrapper, and let me invest in it with liquidity so that if I want to buy a million dollars of it in the morning and sell a million dollars in the afternoon, I can do that in an ETF format," he said. He also told host Anthony Pompliano that doesn't believe there will be only one successful cryptocurrency, and coins like Ethereum will benefit when more investors see cryptos as stores of value and potentially a medium of exchange. Whereas equity investors can buy a "basket of stocks," it's harder for crypto investors to load up on multiple coins. An ETF would solve this problem.

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Also, the seal of approval from the SEC that the ETF would require may convince more institutional investors to buy bitcoin, he said. O'Leary said institutional support is "slowly creeping" into the bitcoin market, but many investors are still hesitant without "clearance from the regulators."

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"If tomorrow morning we woke up and the SEC said you can create an ETF with bitcoin and we think bitcoin is legitimate payment system and storage of wealth, not only would it go up, you'd have a lot of people like me investing in it, because I'd say ok, I'll give it a 5% weighting," added O'Leary.

Fortunately for O'Leary, the prospect of a crypto ETF may not be far out. In October, SEC Chairman James Clayton said the SEC is working on regulations that may one day authorize the use of cryptocurrency ETFs.