Bitcoin Is Just Getting Started, Says Billion Dollar Investor | Moez Kassam

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Moez Kassam (0:30)

And that's what happened with Bitcoin. And I'm looking at today. I'm like, oh my God, these things are 70, 80, went over 100,000. We were there, but you start to notice when things go up in a big manner. And yeah, we've had a lot of volatility over the years and we've had a couple of cycles. But there is an inherent group of people who, you know, are going to keep this thing going. And it's not just before it was a bunch of people talking about the road, the road and the underground and this and, you know, anonymity. Now you've got major institutions that have adopted it, put them on their platforms. And you know, this is something that's here to stay for sure.

Anthony Pompliano (1:06)

What's going on guys? Today we have a great conversation with Moez Kassam. He is the co-founder and CIO at Anson Funds. And in this conversation, it is going to be one of the most entertaining investors that we've ever had on the podcast. In this conversation, he's going to talk about Bitcoin, AI, space, what he does by chasing momentum, why some of the legacy financial advice he may have heard about investing could be wrong, how he thinks about countries like Korea versus the United States versus Canada. And then we get into what he is doing in terms of shorting individual names, what investment ideas he's excited about, and what you should be considering for your portfolio as well. This conversation is full of all sorts of types of alpha. I think you're going to enjoy it. Here's my conversation with Moez.

All right, Moez, most people, if you went to like economics 101 or personal finance class, they would say the number one rule is to stay away from all hype. Do not chase hype. You have made a killing chasing hype, chasing momentum. And I think that you've actually understand how this stuff works and figured out not only how do you enter into these trades, but also how do you get out of them. Can you talk a little bit about maybe your approach to looking at technology hype cycles and how you play this stuff?

Moez Kassam (2:06)

What's funny, you say that the rule of thumb is to stay away from hype.

It's not stay away from hype per se, but it's make sure on the other side of the hype, is that at the end of the day, all that glitters is not always gold. And what I tell people at the end of the day is anything that has too much hype around it, that's when you want to be walking away. So you know what, we're around stuff that has hype, but it's understanding and being objective about it. So when I tell everyone, if you're ever at a party and someone's talking about a new theme or idea, you look at the stock charts around and they're all screaming high. And the idea can be great, but how much of that is already priced in? The idea is you want to be objective and patient because whenever there's hype, there's movements back and forth, and there's an ability to make money as long as you're patient.

Anthony Pompliano (2:51)

So really what you do is you're looking for the idea right before it becomes consensus. And what ends up happening, from my understanding, is you guys will put these positions on, and as they become significantly hyped up, that's when you're basically like, all right, now's our time to get off the train.

Moez Kassam (3:06)

Yeah, you know what?

It's not as simple as that, but the idea is trying to get in early, but also recognizing when the music is too loud, because it's musical chairs and it always stops at some point. And the idea is not just about riding the train, but understanding sentiment, understanding who is getting in, how many people are around, and how loud is that music playing to say, listen, you don't have to get all the way to the ninth inning. If you make seven innings, you can have a pretty good return on whatever theme you're looking at.

Anthony Pompliano (3:37)

You managed a couple billion dollars. You are the best hedge fund manager in Canada, as I always tell you. I know you're a very good investor. And I think that you now have seen kind of the evolution of financial markets, where it used to be very institutional driven. Now, you have retail investors, and the retail investors, they're very well informed. They have the ability to communicate with each other on the internet. And they drive a lot of momentum into names, but also out of names. If kind of something is a fallen darling, then all of a sudden, you know, that can punish these stocks as well. How has that changed the way that you invest in the market?