Matt James' advice to Chris Harrison: Buy Bitcoin

Matt James, The Bachelor, Partner with BlockFi, joins Yahoo Finance Live to discuss his partnership with Blockfi, outlook on the crypto market, and Chris Harrison’s exit from the ‘Bachelor’ franchise.

Video transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: Well, our next guest says that he has diamond hands and has partnered up with BlockFi to encourage others to invest in and earn interest from cryptocurrency. We're joined now by former "Bachelor" star and partner with BlockFi, Matt James. So Matt, let's just start here. Because cryptocurrency is an incredibly volatile asset, there's a lot of potential for people to lose quite a bit of money. Why do you want to promote folks get invested in and get involved in cryptocurrencies? Where's the appeal to you?

MATT JAMES: Well, thank you for having me, Kristin. And I think that the appeal is the adaption that we're seeing taking place. And it's no longer something that is not being taken seriously, as major institutions are allocating major chunks of their portfolio. You have hedge fund managers like Paul Tudor Jones who's advising people to put at least 5% of their portfolio into it to hedge against inflation. And 5% might not seem like a lot, but when you're a billionaire, 5% is a lot. So I don't think it's a matter of if. It's a matter of when now. And I'd like to be on the right side. And partnering with BlockFi helps lead that charge in educating underserved communities so that they don't miss out on this wave that can be extremely lucrative.

ALEXIS CHRISTOPHOROUS: So Matt, talk to us a little bit about your investing philosophy. Do you hold cryptocurrency? If so, what do you hold? And are you one of those folks who likes to buy and hold for the long term? Are you a little risky? Share it with us.

MATT JAMES: I would consider myself a Bitcoin maximalist. And I haven't sold anything that I bought in through the dip. Fortunately, I had a little bit of cash reserve, and I was able to load up on what some people were trying to get rid of. But my philosophy is-- and I don't see it changing-- is a hedge against inflation. And it doesn't look like the Fed's planning on raising interest rates anytime soon. So I just want to make sure that my money is worth more in the future. And one of the seamless ways of doing that is investing in an asset that is trending in the right direction and there's a limited supply of. It's a very simple view for me, and it's a very simple strategy-- just buy Bitcoin and hold.

KRISTIN MYERS: So is it just Bitcoin that has captured your attention and your interest? There's more than 5,000 cryptocurrencies out there right now. Are you looking at some other, perhaps Ethereum and maybe even Dogecoin? I have to ask you about it.

MATT JAMES: Kristin, so for my investing goals and financial plans is strictly, again, a hedge against inflation and protecting my wealth long term. And in doing so, the best digital asset for me to put that in would be Bitcoin. I'm not saying that there's not utility value in owning Ethereum and having a diverse set of all coins in your portfolio. But for my personal investment and strategy going forward, it's to be in an asset like Bitcoin. And that's why it makes sense to work with BlockFi.

I can literally earn Bitcoin by holding my Bitcoin, which is what I was going to do anyways. And then with their credit card, I get Bitcoin rewards by spending money that I would be spending anyway. So it was very seamless in terms of wanting to work with a company that had the same financial vision that I have as well as similar views. They're co-founded by a woman. It happens to be diverse as well. And it plays into the story that we try to tell our students that we work with in these underserved communities. And that's really doing your own research.

And to answer your question earlier about being invested in crypto in general, I'm not advising anybody to put their life savings into it. But what we're doing actively is educating people on the space, where it's going, and how they can get involved.

ALEXIS CHRISTOPHOROUS: All right. All right. So Matt, I want to ask you about "The Bachelor" franchise. And of course, you made history on the show being the first Black bachelor. I know you worked with Chris Harrison, who was host of the show for 19 years. He recently exited after he had, I guess, backed up Rachael Kirkconnell after those racially insensitive social media-- that social media post. Back when this was all going down, I know you actually went on the record as saying that you didn't think Chris should be let go and that you didn't think he should be part of the cancel culture. Now that he's gone from the show, have your feelings changed at all about that?

MATT JAMES: I'll tell you this, Alexis. One thing that I learned from the show is that when you have something good and you see something good in your life, you've got to hold on to it. And similar to how I took that into my personal relationship advice, I also take that same advice in holding Bitcoin. And as you saw in the dip, I wasn't one who was selling. I was holding, and I'm going to continue to hold and ride this wave out because I have long-term views on my relationship as well as I do on Bitcoin.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right. That was an artful pivot. I will give you that. Matt, I do want to ask you, in terms of getting paid going forward, would you ever try to get paid in cryptocurrency? I know you used to play football. This is something that a lot of NFL players have actually been talking about lately, getting paid in Bitcoin. Is this something that you're talking about or wanting to be a part of your contracts, your business contracts moving forward?

MATT JAMES: Again, I would advise people to do their research, because when you're dealing with things that are volatile, you're going to have price swings. And if you don't have a long-term trajectory on Bitcoin, then you could be flustered when you see prices going up and down in the near term. But if you have eyes towards the future, then I think it would make sense to be paid in a currency that's going to outperform the dollar going forward.

I love it. I love what Trevor Lawrence is doing. I love what a handful of athletes are doing their due diligence in, and that's preparing for the future. And if I was still playing sports, I would definitely want a portion, if not all, of my contract to be in the form of Bitcoin as well. So hats off to those guys for being trendsetters, and I look forward to seeing men and women in those fields continue to leverage everything that's taking place in this space.

ALEXIS CHRISTOPHOROUS: Matt, before we let you go, we all want to know, have you talked to Chris since he left the show? I know he was looking for a $25 million payout. We don't know what he got. He came to some sort of an agreement. But have you guys talked?

MATT JAMES: What I would say is that the smartest thing that could be done with any of the payout would be to buy as much Bitcoin as possible, because right now, it's at an all-time low if you're looking at the past few months. And I'm hoping that if you're wise with any of your investments, if you're looking to double that money, if you see it going to the moon like I do and reaching over $100,000 by the end of the year, so not--

ALEXIS CHRISTOPHOROUS: So your advice to Chris Harrison is to take whatever money he got from ABC and put it into Bitcoin?

MATT JAMES: I'm saying anybody who's-- I think that anybody who comes into a large amount of money should at least consider looking at the asset class because of where it's gone, where it's trending, and what the future looks like, taking into account inflation.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right. Matt James, former "Bachelor" star, partner with BlockFi, thanks so much for joining us today.