Tim Cook says Apple is ‘looking at’ crypto and that he has invested in it

(AFP via Getty Images)

Apple is “looking at” crypto and Tim Cook has invested in it himself, he has revealed.

The company does not have “immediate plans” to enter into the crypto market, but has been exploring its options, the chief executive said during a New York Times conference.

“It’s something that we’re looking at,” he told Andrew Ross Sorkin during an interview. “It’s not something we have immediate plans to do.

“There are things that I wouldn’t do, like our cash balance – I wouldn’t go and invest that in crypto,” he said. Other companies such as Tesla have invested in bitcoin at the corporate level already.

“Not because I wouldn’t invest my own money in crypto but because people don’t buy an Apple stock to get exposure to crypto.

“And I’m not planning to, in the immediate future, to take crypto for our products.”

When asked what Apple might therefore be planning, Mr Cook said he didn’t “have anything to announce today”.

He did however reveal that he personally is invested in cryptocurrency.

“I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio,” he said. “I’ve been interested in it for a while.”

Asked whether that might mean that people would call him a “bitcoin bull”, Mr Cook said he did not know what people might call him, and noted that it is “just something from a personal point of view I’m interested in”.

When asked about non-fungible tokens, the controversial digital contracts that rely on some of the same technology as cryptocurrencies, Mr Cook appeared less interested.

He said that the technology was “interesting” but that it would “take a while” for it to be relevant to the average person.