Apple CEO Tim Cook reveals he owns cryptocurrency

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Tuesday said he personally owns cryptocurrency at the New York Times' DealBook online conference. Answering Andrew Ross Sorkin, who is hosting the NYT's two-day online summit, Cook shared his thoughts on the hot topic of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

“I do. I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio,” Cook told Sorkin in a recorded interview, reported CNBC. “I’m not giving anyone investment advice by the way.”

Cook said that he had been interested in cryptocurrency “for a while” and that he had been researching the topic.

He explained that Apple is “looking at” crypto, but has no immediate plans to launch such functionality in Apple Pay. He also said that, unlike Tesla, Apple does not plan to invest in cryptocurrency as a company because he believes AAPL shareholders do not buy AAPL stock to get exposure to crypto.

Cook also said Apple has no immediate plans to accept cryptocurrency for its products. He also called NFTs -- non-fungible tokens -- an “interesting” part of the cryptocurrency world.

During the conference, Cook also defended Apple’s App Store commission rate, saying most developers are charged a 15% cut instead of the full 30%. He did say however that more changes to the App Store will come in the future. He also said that users who want to side-load -- install apps from the web or elsewhere instead of via the App Store -- can buy an Android device instead of an iPhone.

Asked about Meta Platforms Inc. and its metaverse push, Cook said augmented reality remains a core technology for Apple. 

In August, Cook received 5 million shares of Apple stock worth $750 million at the time. He will get additional grants of Apple stock through 2026, of which the number of shares depends on Apple stock performance. He has said he plans to donate his entire fortune to charity.

Bitcoin and ether hit record peaks on Tuesday, with enthusiasm for cryptocurrency adoption and worry about inflation driving momentum and flows into the asset class.

Though both virtual currencies pulled back from their highs in the U.S. session, their trajectory was clearly headed higher.

Bitcoin rose as high as $68,564.40 and was last down 0.1% at $67,325 while ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market value, earlier hit $4,842.65 before trading down 0.7% at $4,774.

Both have more than doubled since June and added nearly 70% against the dollar since the start of October.

With agency inputs