Recent spikes and dips in the price of bitcoin are enough to make your head spin. Thursday, bitcoin briefly topped $19,000 trading on the Coinbase exchange before falling more than 20 percent to just over $15,000. Friday, it dropped to almost $14,000, after seeing highs above $17,000 earlier that morning, according to industry site CoinDesk.
Given the volatility, have come up with a snappy way to describe bitcoin: It is just like rolling the dice in Las Vegas.
Only invest for fun or entertainment, Jim Cramer, Kevin O'Leary and Tony Robbins say.
Jim Cramer
"It's just pure gambling at this point," , the host of CNBC's "Mad Money." "I mean if you want to gamble, go to Vegas. Vegas is fabulous."
For him, the right way to think about bitcoin isn't as an investment to store wealth, but as a bet on something that could make you money — or not.
"I mean honestly, what's the difference between bitcoin and trying to figure out the Super Bowl? I mean it's gambling," "Absolutely no one has been able to come up with anything that tells me this is anything but gambling."
Cramer he doesn't "blame anyone for wanting to own it because it's a fun ride," but warned that bitcoin's fate could sour, "This is one of the least functional markets I've ever seen."
Kevin O'Leary
"Shark Tank" star and investor Kevin O'Leary advises using a similar mindset when considering investing in bitcoin.
"I would suggest anybody who is going to play with [bitcoin] to use it as entertainment. Just as you would go to Las Vegas," Kevin O'Leary tells CNBC Make It.
"I don't know if it is going to $40,000 or zero, and nobody knows," he explains. "So, I just think it is a wonderful entertainment, just like a slot machine is, or putting chips on a roulette wheel."
Adds O'Leary, "Right now it is fun, exciting, entertaining. As long as you can afford to lose everything you put into it, go with it."
Tony Robbins
Tony Robbins agrees. Investors should look at bitcoin the same way they do a hand of black jack, he says.
"[Bitcoin] is very iffy," Robbins says, speaking from the Iconic conference presented by Inc. and CNBC in late September. "I don't have a clue. I look at that as it's like going to Vegas."
His ? Only consider investing in bitcoin with disposable income you'd be willing to take to a casino. You might be a winner, but if you lose, it wasn't your entire retirement savings at risk.
For volatile investments like bitcoin, Robbins says this is his mentality: "I know it is just for fun I'm investing, I know I could lose, this is Vegas."
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