Suze Orman Says She Bought $5K of Bitcoin Using PayPal – And She’s a HODLer

Suze Orman, the personal finance guru and television host of CNBC’s "The Suze Orman Show," said she has invested $5,000 in bitcoin.

In an interview with NextAdvisor, Orman said she used PayPal to purchase the crypto. This is the first time Orman has acknowledged owning bitcoin directly.

Orman’s positive outlook on crypto separates her from many other celebrity financial advisers, such as Dave Ramsey, who has maintained a negative opinion of cryptocurrencies for years.

Prior to discussing her purchase of bitcoin, Orman had spoken several times about her interest in crypto and her investment in MicroStrategy stock last June, which she used as a proxy for bitcoin. Orman told NextAdvisor she bought MicroStrategy stock because she found it to be simpler than buying crypto directly.

“Truthfully, I didn’t really know how to buy a large amount of bitcoin,” Orman said. “Coinbase was aggravating me. I bought a little of it and then I sold some. It was just too complicated for me – even though it’s not complicated at all.”

Orman also expressed her frustration with the technical aspects of buying and holding crypto, including how to create a crypto wallet. PayPal, Orman said, made purchasing bitcoin easy because it allows users to purchase crypto without creating an external crypto wallet. 

But Orman’s interview with NextAdvisor wasn’t all looking through rose-colored glasses: The financial guru also said she is concerned about bitcoin due to the regulatory crackdowns happening in China and the looming specter of U.S. regulation, which Orman thinks will be driven by the recent uptick in ransomware attacks.

Orman also said volatility is to be expected, and that bitcoin could drop as low as $12,000-$15,000. She is also concerned about the power of unofficial figureheads like Tesla CEO Elon Musk to move the crypto markets with “comments.”

“Even with all that said, I still am a fan of bitcoin,” Orman said. “I don’t plan to sell even my little amount, no matter what.”