Delivering Alpha

Social Capital's Palihapitiya is 'massively long' bitcoin

Key Points
  • "The genie is fundamentally out of the bottle" on the disruptive power of the blockchain, Palihapitiya said at the Delivering Alpha Conference in New York on Tuesday.
  • The investor also explained his strategy of buying technology disruptors and betting against companies that are being disrupted.
Chamath Palihapitiya speaking at the 2017 Delivering Alpha conference in New York on Sept. 12, 2017.
David A. Grogan | CNBC

Chamath Palihapitiya is a big believer in digital currencies.

"We've been massively long" bitcoin for years, Palihapitiya said at the Delivering Alpha Conference in New York on Tuesday. "The genie is fundamentally out of the bottle," he added on the power of the blockchain.

He doesn't think it will blow up as JPMorgan Chase CEO Dimon said earlier Tuesday.

Palihapitiya also said technology investors need to focus on a company's ability to innovate in a rapidly changing world.

"There is just this massive trade right now between the disruptors and the disrupted," he said.

"Technology companies are fundamentally dynamic organisms … [There are] so many assets that are fundamentally impaired due to technology."

The investment manager cited how there are 200 technology companies worth more than $1 billion on the public stock markets and 170 private firms worth more than $1 billion. It is a big fertile ground to find and buy the technology disruptors and short the disrupted, according to the investor.

Palihapitiya is the founder and CEO of Social Capital. He was a former member of the senior executive team at Facebook. He was recently listed as CEO of a new "blank check company" called Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August.

WATCH: Chamath Palihapitiya and the 'backdoor' IPO

Chamath Palihapitiya and the 'backdoor' IPO
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Chamath Palihapitiya and the 'backdoor' IPO