Tim Cook being a cryptocurrency owner himself, says that don’t call him a bitcoin bull.
“I don’t want to put any labels on me, it’s just that it’s something, from a personal point of view, I’m interested in,” the Apple CEO told journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook Summit Tuesday.
Cook didn’t specify which all tokens he owns but said, “I think it’s reasonable to own [crypto] as part of a diversified portfolio. … I’ve been interested in it for a while.”
However, cryptocurrency enthusiasts should not hold their breath for the day when they can purchase an iPhone using Bitcoin. Cook stated that he does not have any plans in the immediate future to accept crypto as a means of payment for Apple products (AAPL). He also cleared that he has no such plans to invest any of Apple’s money in cryptocurrency yet. Other companies, in particular Tesla and Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square, invested in crypto directly and, for a short period of time, Tesla accepted bitcoin as payment.
“I don’t think people buy an Apple stock to get exposure to crypto,” Cook said. “If they want to do that, they can invest directly into crypto through other means.”
But, he said, “there are other things” related to crypto “that we’re definitely looking at. … I wouldn’t have anything to announce today.”
As for Apple’s other future projects, Cook refused to comment on long-standing rumours that an Apple car might be coming.
“We try not to talk about the future too much, because we’ve got so much going on in the current day that we try to be secretive about the future,” he said. “It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t keep something up our sleeves.”
Cook also addressed a number of other issues confronting Apple, including criticisms that its App Store allows it to act as a gatekeeper between app developers and Apple’s millions of customers. Apple is currently in court with Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, over its App Store and the commission fees it charges developers. Apple’s detractors, including some lawmakers, have urged the company to allow third-party App Stores, a practise known as “sideloading.” Apple has defended its commissions, claiming that they are comparable to other app stores and that the App Store’s exclusivity on Apple devices is necessary for security.
